The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed how important pharmacists are to our communities. Over the course of the public health crisis, pharmacy teams across the United States have expanded their roles by providing a variety of clinical interventions, particularly vaccinations. From February 2020 to September 2022, pharmacists and their colleagues administered more than 270 million COVID-19 vaccines. This accounts for more than 50% of the country’s COVID-19 vaccines. 1
From 2020 to 2021, U.S. pharmacists administered more routine vaccinations than physicians, according to the Global Healthy Living Foundation’s 2023 report. The majority of adult COVID-19 and shingles vaccines and 13% to 20% of adult HPV vaccines were administered, the report said. It was done at a pharmacy. Approximately 60% of vaccinations during the influenza season were also administered at pharmacies.
David Ha, BCIDP, Pharm.D., infectious disease and antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist and PGY2 infectious disease training program coordinator at Stanford Health Care, said the number of vaccines primary care providers are giving their patients, especially He said more pharmacies need to offer different types of vaccines because of the low numbers. patient.
“This data actually shows that more than 8 out of 10 patients received the vaccine at a pharmacy this season in 2024-2025,” Ha said. “That number is only going to continue to grow. Pharmacies are where people can get these vaccines. It’s in the minds of the patients, it’s in the minds of the health care providers, so (the health care providers) They’re just deferring vaccinations to community pharmacies. And what I’ve seen in some of the collaborations with public health is that pharmacies are doing it better. It’s good at getting shots in the arm faster and in higher quantities, and it’s better at storage and handling. So it makes sense.”
In a conversation with Drug Topics at the National Community Pharmacists Association’s (NCPA) 2024 Annual Convention and Expo, Ha explained why primary care providers are reducing vaccination offers and how pharmacies are They discussed how pharmacies can more effectively market their services to the community. .
Click here to follow coverage of the NCPA conference.
Coverage of the National Community Pharmacists Association 2024 Annual Convention and Expo was supported by Red Sail, with independent editorial content produced on-site by the Drug Topics team. Gravenstein JD. Essential Services: Quantifying the Contribution of American Pharmacists to COVID-19 Clinical Interventions. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2022 November-December;62(6):1929-1945.e1. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2022.08.010. Epub 2022 8 18. PMID: 36202712; PMCID: PMC9387064.2. Trends in vaccine administration in the United States. News release. IQVIA. January 13, 2023. Accessed October 26, 2024. https://www.iqvia.com/insights/the-iqvia-institute/reports-and-publications/reports/trends-in-vaccine-administration-in-the-united -state
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