World Immunization Week: Pharmacists Continue to Serve as Frontline Immunization Administrators

Long before COVID-19 put pharmacist-administered vaccines in the spotlight, a quiet revolution had already been decades in the making. Today, pharmacists are leveraging that hard-won authority to become the most accessible immunization resource in their communities.

“I believe the most dramatic increase actually happened quite a bit earlier. Thirty years ago, pharmacist vaccination was basically non-existent,” Nathan Ott, PharmD, pharmacy manager at Food City, told Drug Topics®. “Pharmacist training, pharmacy immunization programs, [and] collaborative practice agreements have continued to build each year after that, especially in the decade before the pandemic.”

To celebrate World Immunization Week 2026, spearheaded by WHO, Ott joined Drug Topics to provide us with an updated and current understanding of how far pharmacists have come in the immunization space.

He breaks down the full arc of how pharmacy-based vaccination evolved from a nonexistent practice to a pandemic-ready powerhouse. Beyond the history lesson, the conversation gets practical, exploring how smart workflow integration—like automatically linking to state immunization databases during patient counseling—is helping pharmacies identify eligible patients and close vaccination gaps without adding friction to an already busy dispensing environment.

The interview makes clear that pharmacies not actively building out their vaccine programs are leaving both revenue and patient impact on the table. For any pharmacist looking to strengthen their practice’s community role while also protecting the bottom line, this conversation is essential.

Stay tuned for more from our conversation with Ott, who dives deeper into current developments surrounding pharmacists’ immunization services during World Immunization Week, and be on the lookout for the full-length conversation releasing later this week on the Over the Counter podcast, powered by Drug Topics.

READ MORE: Immunization Resource Center

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