Immunization services offered in Québec (Canada) pharmacies

Figures & data

Table 1. Proportion of pharmacies where vaccination services were offered at the time of the survey and proportion of those planning to offer them in the next five years

Type of service	At time of survey (n = 1102)		Planned to be offered in the next 5 y (n = 1091)
	n	%	n	%
Promotion of vaccination	802	73	845	78
Counselling on vaccination	721	65	792	73
Sale of vaccines	990	90	893	82
Administration of vaccines by a nurse	301	27	476	44

Figure 1. Difficulties related to vaccination as perceived by all pharmacists respondents (n = 1042).

Figure 2. Frequency of utilization of various vaccine information sources by pharmacists (n = 1101).

Table 2. Vaccines sold and administered in pharmacies

Type of vaccine	Proportion of pharmacies where this vaccine was sold (n = 916)*	Proportion of pharmacies where this vaccine was administered (n = 235)
Hepatitis A or B	99%	68%
HPV	83%	45%
Vaccines for travelers, other than hepatitis	79%	34%
Childhood vaccines	54%	18%
Pneumococcal polysaccharide	48%	32%
Influenza	44%	84%
Diphtheria/tetanos	13%	18%
Pertussis acellular	6%	11%

*Among the 990 pharmacies where vaccines were sold, 916 provided information on this question and among the 301 pharmacies where vaccines were administered, 235 provided information on this question.

Table 3. Proportion of pharmacies where recommendations on cold chain maintenance were respected

Recommendation of the Québec Order of Pharmacists	Proportion of pharmacies where this recommendation was applied (n = 921)
Give information or advices on how to maintain the cold chain when selling vaccines	97%
Icepack always available in pharmacy	94%
Icebox always available in pharmacy	68%
Storage of vaccines not directly on ice	64%
Refrigerator temperature checked twice a day	50%
All these recommendations are observed	23%

*Among the 990 pharmacies where vaccines were sold, 921 provided information on this question.

Table 4. Factors independently associated with the administration of vaccines in pharmacies

	Multivariate Analysis (n = 973)
Factors	Proportions ratio	(CI 95%)	p-value
Higher number of opening hours per week (> 60 vs. ≤ 60)	1.7	(1.2 – 2.6)	0.0065
Presence of another health professional in the pharmacy*	3.5	(2.8 – 4.5)	< 0.0001
Being located < 1 km of a medical clinic (vs same building)	1.3	(1.0 – 1.6)	0.0204
Being located > 1 km of a medical clinic (vs same building)	1.4	(1.2 – 1.7)	0.0011
Having an agreement to collaborate with a public health unit or a medical clinic for immunization	1.3	(1.2 – 1.6)	< 0.0002
Higher perceived difficulties with insurance cost**	0.8	(0.6 – 1.0)	0.0858
Higher perceived difficulties with lack of demand from patients	0.7	(0.6 – 0.8)	< 0.0001

* *Nurse, auxiliary nurse or nutritionist. **Québec pharmacists have to pay insurance when they keep vaccines in their premise in case of problems like cold chain defect.