Rural Pharmacist Discusses Vaccine Barriers

In a rural community where physicians’ offices can be miles away and transportation is a constant challenge, a local pharmacist says the neighborhood pharmacy has become a crucial gateway to health care—especially for vaccines.

“I work in a rural area, so at the specific pharmacy I'm at, one of the biggest hurdles to overcome is access to health care,” Amanda Belvins, PharmD, pharmacy manager at Food City Stores, explained. Patients contend with “geographical limitations, even some transportation limitations,” which can turn a routine preventive service into a major logistical burden.

Pharmacy has stepped in as a highly accessible point of care. “A lot of times the pharmacy is a way for folks to overcome that,” she said. Because the pharmacy is local and embedded in town, “everything that they can receive from us…is something that they won't have to travel farther or make an appointment or wait through long lines at the doctor's office to receive.”

Belvins notes that limited access to primary care is a persistent problem. “The lack of transportation, maybe some lack of adequate primary care resources,” makes it harder for patients to stay on top of preventive care like vaccinations. That’s particularly important for the older population the pharmacy serves.

“We also service an older population in a lot of ways,” she said, adding that for many of these patients “there's a little bit of a gap…in the knowledge of what vaccines they're eligible to receive.” To close that gap, the team relies on proactive identification and outreach. By flagging patients in advance, the staff can use each visit as an opportunity to catch up on immunizations.

“If you are having those folks flagged ahead of time when they make it to the pharmacy, we're able to remind them, ‘Hey, these are things that you're eligible for. Would you like to take care of this while you're at the store today?’” Belvins said.

Ensuring that staff are prepared is central to this approach. “I think that being up to date on all the current recommendations and confident in your own process is going to be the best way to…handle folks that have questions or concerns about vaccines,” she explained. That clinical confidence supports another cornerstone of the pharmacy’s strategy: relationships.

“Also, we're building relationships with our patients in the pharmacy every day,” Belvins said. Those relationships, developed over repeated visits and everyday interactions, can be pivotal when it comes to vaccine hesitancy. They are “really key into helping to ease folks' tensions about vaccines or getting all the information they need to make their best choice.”

Vaccines work, and they matter not only for individuals but also for entire communities. “My message to patients about vaccines is that they are a safe and effective way to help prevent diseases, and not only yourself but in your community as well,” Belvins said.

For this pharmacist, the retail setting is not just convenient—it’s an ideal venue for preventive care. “I also think that the retail pharmacy is the perfect spot to go and receive these health services and that it's a very important aspect of the care that we offer our patients,” she said.

“August is National Immunization Awareness Month, and the focus of that program is to promote vaccination but also to promote on-time vaccines,” Belvins noted. Offering vaccination services, educating patients, and using every visit as a chance to close gaps in care is, they say, “an excellent way to participate in that program.”