Pharmacy patron perspectives of community pharmacist administered influenza vaccinations.

BACKGROUND: One approach to boost influenza vaccination coverage has been to expand immunization authority. In 2012, the province of Ontario gave community pharmacists the authority to administer the influenza vaccine.

OBJECTIVE: This study investigates the perspectives of Ontario pharmacy patrons, who had not recently received this vaccine from a pharmacist, regarding this pharmacist service.

METHODS: A survey was administered in six Ontario community pharmacies to pharmacy patrons who had not received an influenza vaccination from a pharmacist during the previous year. The instrument included questions about influenza vaccination, and knowledge of and attitudes toward vaccines and pharmacist-administered immunization.

RESULTS: A total of 541 pharmacy patrons completed the survey (53.9% response rate). About one-third (30.5%) of respondents were not aware that pharmacists could give the influenza vaccine, with younger individuals being less likely to be aware (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.29-0.77, p < 0.05) and less likely to receive the vaccine annually (OR 0.28, 95% CI 0.19-0.42, p < 0.05). Leading reasons respondents gave as to why they did not receive their influenza vaccine from a pharmacist included not wanting or feeling they needed to be immunized (41.6%) and being used to receiving the vaccine from a physician (16.5%). Concerns about the experience and training of pharmacists and lack of privacy in a community pharmacy were uncommon.

CONCLUSION: Reduced awareness of the availability of pharmacist-provided influenza vaccine is still common. Pharmacists have a significant opportunity to address lack of awareness and vaccine hesitancy issues. They can promote this service to increase influenza vaccination rates among pharmacy patrons who do not utilize this professional service.