Survey: Majority of Pharmacists Ready to Receive, Administer COVID-19 Vaccines

A majority of pharmacists said their pharmacy practices will be ready to administer coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines when they are available, and more than three quarters plan to be vaccinated themselves, according to a new survey.

The recent nationwide survey of 400 pharmacists conducted by the American Pharmacists Association (APhA found that 52% of pharmacists said they would receive a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible, 17% said they would receive it after 6 months of experience with the vaccine, and 9% said they would get it after 1 year of experience.¹

Seventeen percent of pharmacists were undecided about receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, and 6% said they would not receive it, APhA said in a news release.1

In a similar survey of pharmacists conducted 2 months ago, only 36% of pharmacists said they would receive the vaccine as soon as possible.

“Pharmacists are data driven. More data is out there such as Pfizer’s [COVID-19 vaccine] 95% efficacy rate and Moderna’s 94.1% efficacy rate—those are really good numbers [increasing pharmacists’ comfort level with getting the vaccines],” Scott Knoer, PharmD, FASHP, CEO and executive vice president of APhA, told Drug Topics®. 

After FDA grants Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) for one of the COVID-19 vaccines, “a lot of pharmacists are going to be better about getting it,” Knoer added.

Sixty percent of pharmacists also said their pharmacy practices would be ready to administer the vaccines as soon as they are available.

Thirty-seven percent are currently ready to receive the vaccines and vaccinate patients as soon as they are available, whereas 23% are in the final preparation stages and will be ready when the vaccines are.

Thirty-four percent of pharmacists said they are not prepared to vaccinate in the first wave of vaccination efforts, but plan to participate in future phases. Only 6% said the logistics of participation are too difficult and would not participate in vaccination efforts.

“COVID-19 is like our 9-11: we didn’t have PPE, but we all went to work and took care of patients,” Knoer said. “Pharmacists really want to be part of the solution here for vaccines.”

References:

1. Pharmacists ready to receive and administer COVID-19 vaccines, according to APhA survey. News release. APhA; December 2, 2020. Accessed December 2, 2020. https://www.pharmacist.com/press-release/pharmacists-ready-receive-and-administer-covid-19-vaccines-according-apha-survey