How to promote vaccinations: a pilot study in the North-West of Italy

ABSTRACT

Background: vaccines are one of the greatest medical discoveries. In various countries, pharmacists are authorised to administer vaccines directly in pharmacies; thus, leading to an increase in the immunisation rate and a notable gain in consensus amongst the population.

The main objective was to evaluate the opinion of pharmacy customers regarding the proposal to authorise pharmacies to administer vaccines.

Results: 85% of the respondents were in favour of the introduction of a vaccinating pharmacist. The data show more positive attitudes to the introduction of this service amongst subjects with an elderly dependant relative (PR = 1,10; p = 0.025). Furthermore, it can be noticed a higher probability of positive attitudes to the establishment of the vaccinating pharmacist amongst those with positive attitudes to vaccines (PR = 1,15; p = 0.039). Moreover, the pharmacist is seen as a reference on the subject of vaccines by only 8% of interviewees.

Discussion: The data highlight the particularly positive feedback regarding the subject of pharmacists being authorised to administer vaccines. This service may, however, encounter obstacles such as economic problems and opposition from other health professionals.

Materials and methods: Data were gathered through a face-to-face interview by means of questionnaires in eight pharmacies in the north-west of Piedmont (Italy). Descriptive statistics were performed. The comparison between the proportions and average values was performed by χ² and t-test. The indicator used for the associations was the Prevalence Ratio (PR). The PR was calculated using a modified Poisson regression with robust standard errors. The level of significance was fixed at 0.05; IC at 95%.

KEYWORD:

• Vaccines
• community pharmacies
• questionnaire
• cross-sectional survey
• Italy

Acknowledgments

The authors thank to Dr. Marco Parente, Research grant at Department of Pharmaceutical Science and Technology, University of Turin, for precious support in the statistical analysis.

The authors express gratitude to all interviewees, for sharing their views, and all pharmacies, who participated in the project, without which this study would not have been possible.

Moreover, the authors thank to Federfama.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.