Leveraging Familiarity to Overcome Vaccination Hesitancy

Recent data shows that an average of 90,000 Americans die of vaccine-preventable infections such as influenza, pneumococcal disease, and hepatitis B each year.

Influenza and pneumonia stats combined account for the fifth leading cause of death of Americans 65 years of age or older. To add to this grim reality, most of the people whose deaths were related to vaccine-preventable diseases visited healthcare providers in the year preceding their deaths but were not vaccinated.

Seventy percent of vaccinating pharmacies are in communities with moderate-to-high social vulnerability. Plus, most patients visit pharmacies an average of 35 times per year, compared to just four visits to see other healthcare providers. These numbers demonstrate the importance of utilizing accessibility and trust to build relationships that can help communities overcome their hesitation to vaccinate.

Legislative Authority to Vaccinate

The pharmacist’s authority to administer vaccines is determined by each state’s laws and regulations that govern pharmacy practice.

Each state allows pharmacists to administer adult vaccinations at varying degrees. Differences in state-based vaccination policy include allowing pharmacists to administer all FDA-approved vaccines, CDC ACIP-recommended vaccines if a prescription has been written, vaccinations from a set list of vaccines, and more. It is also important to note that 42 states allow pharmacy technicians to administer vaccines.

Source: In Your State – Vaccines Shouldn’t Wait (vaccinesshouldntwait.org)

Pharmacists: Trusted Healthcare Professionals

Pharmacists have a longstanding history of being trustworthy healthcare providers. The first pharmaceutical text was written in 2100 BC, and the first US pharmacy opened its doors in 1752.

Today, 83% of pharmacy customers are strongly interested in receiving health and wellness services at the pharmacy. A recent APhA study backs this sentiment, showing pharmacists provided more than 35 million clinical interventions to more than 150 million people through testing, parenteral antibodies, vaccinations, antiviral therapies, and in-patient care.

Regarding vaccination, 54% of Americans say they would go to a traditional physician’s office only for vaccinations for children, but for flu shots and other vaccinations for adults, three in five (62%) would go to a local pharmacy.

Most Americans believe in pharmacy teams and their ability to provide top-notch care. Given the high frequency of visits to the pharmacy, these teams can build relationships with patients as a “trusted advisor.” This allows them to counsel patients on the benefits of vaccinations and answer questions to help remove any vaccine hesitancy that the patient may have. Now is the time to turn that trust into results by alerting patients to your ability to vaccinate them against infectious diseases.

Using Technology to Overcome Vaccination Hesitancy

Technology is intertwined into the fabric of almost everything we do. In many instances, technological advances help make our daily lives more manageable, and that is the case for pharmacy care as well.

Utilizing a solution that helps pharmacy teams identify immunization opportunities should be a top priority for pharmacists who want to use their connections with patients to impact vaccination rates.

Several pharmacies nationwide recently saw great success by employing the power of CareALERTS™. Leveraging multiple data sources, including 56 state and jurisdictional registries and vaccine data across multiple settings of care, CareALERTS applies a sophisticated rules engine that considers clinical eligibility, financial coverage, and business requirements to identify vaccine-eligible consumers in real-time by 28% among participating pharmacies.

Pharmacists play a critical role in community health. Your pharmacy should consider using technology that helps you positively impact health outcomes in your neighborhood.