PHARMACY WORKFORCE LEADERSHIP IN IMPROVING VACCINE ACCESS

To affirm the pharmacy workforce is the leader in increasing patient access to vaccinations to improve public health; further,

To collaborate with key stakeholders to support the public health role of the pharmacy workforce in the initiation, preparation, and administration of all adult and pediatric vaccinations; further,

To advocate that state and federal health authorities establish required centralized databases for timely documentation of vaccine administrations that are interoperable and accessible to all healthcare providers; further,

To advocate for payer coverage guarantees without cost sharing of evidence-based vaccines; further,

To work with federal, state, and local governments and others to improve the vaccine development and supply system in order to ensure an adequate supply of vaccines; further,

To foster public vaccine confidence through consistent, evidence-based, and culturally sensitive engagement with individuals and communities.

Rationale

Increasing adult and pediatric patients’ access to vaccinations is an important public health challenge. The unique training and expertise of members of the pharmacy workforce in all aspects of the medication-use system can help expand patients’ access to vaccinations and promote disease prevention in all practice settings. Hospital and health-system pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians provide care to a patient population that is at risk and often critically ill, and such patients are especially dependent on herd immunity. Patients in rural areas, where a pharmacy may provide the only convenient access to a healthcare professional, will benefit from increased pharmacy workforce vaccination authority.

Although all states permit pharmacist administration of some vaccines, state laws differ in the range of vaccines pharmacists and pharmacy technicians may administer and the patient populations they are permitted to vaccinate. During the COVID-19 public health emergency, new regulatory flexibility under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act allowed pharmacy technicians and pharmacy students, under the supervision of a licensed pharmacist, to administer COVID-19 and influenza vaccines through 2029. Permanently allowing trained and certified pharmacists, including student pharmacists, to order and administer all adult and pediatric vaccines (e.g., by eliminating the requirement that some vaccinations be conducted within a collaborative practice agreement) would encourage standardization of pharmacy vaccination practice within and among states, as would permitting appropriately trained and supervised pharmacy technicians to prepare and administer vaccinations. ASHP also advocates for payer coverage guarantees without cost sharing of vaccines and appropriate reimbursement of the pharmacy workforce for all vaccination services.

To aid in sharing important patient vaccination information, centralized and interoperable databases of patient vaccinations should be established, and all authorized vaccination providers, including pharmacists, student pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians, should be required by law or regulation to document their vaccinations in those databases in a timely manner when they become available.

Pharmacists, student pharmacists, pharmacy technicians, and pharmacy educators should embrace their role in this important public health effort by providing education about the importance of vaccination in disease prevention, participating in community vaccination programs, and training vaccination providers.

The pharmacy workforce has an integral role in promoting disease prevention by promoting vaccine confidence. The CDC defines vaccine confidence as “the trust that patients, their families, and providers have in recommended vaccines, the providers who administer vaccines, and the processes and policies that lead to vaccine development, licensure or authorization, manufacturing, and recommendations for use.” Building vaccine confidence can involve helping patients, caregivers, healthcare providers, and members of the public overcome vaccine hesitancy, which is a delay in acceptance or refusal of vaccination despite availability of vaccination services.

The pharmacy workforce, and in particular its leaders, also has an important role in working with federal, state, and local government, the pharmaceutical industry, and other stakeholders to improve the vaccine development and supply system to ensure a consistent and adequate supply of vaccines.