FIP releases vaccination handbook for pharmacists

The International Pharmaceutical Federation is releasing a handbook to help pharmacists maximize their disease prevention role through vaccination.

The handbook details the many ways pharmacists can contribute to improving vaccination coverage, such as supply chain and stock management, storage, record keeping, facilitation of appointments and administration of vaccines, but it also gives emphasis to their important educational and advisory role. “

"Advocating vaccination should be part of the daily practice of community pharmacists. At this time of increasing levels of vaccine hesitancy, pharmacists should be equipped with proper training and tools to effectively communicate and provide evidence-based recommendations to populations in order to support vaccine uptake,” said Gonçalo Sousa Pinto, editor of the handbook and FIP’s lead for practice development and transformation.

The handbook provides guidance on the implementation of a range of pharmacy vaccination services, guidelines on safety, and answers to frequently asked questions about vaccines.

“Not all of the roles described in the handbook are currently open to pharmacists in every country — for example, pharmacists’ access to vaccination records is still not mainstream practice worldwide — but with this handbook, FIP aims to support the expansion and development of the roles of pharmacists in order to increase vaccination coverage across the globe,” Sousa Pinto said.

The handbook is available here.