The United States (US) falls short of the Healthy People 2020 objective of achieving 80% coverage among 13–15-year-old adolescents. Pharmacies are a viable alternative vaccine distribution venue that might boost HPV vaccination coverage. The purpose of this study was to evaluate pharmacists’ perspectives on HPV vaccination for teenagers. Researchers recruited 40 licensed pharmacists from eight different states, including Alabama, California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Eligible pharmacists had previously or were presently giving HPV, tetanus-diphtheria-pertussis, or meningococcal vaccinations to adolescents aged 9–17. A semi-structured survey was distributed to pharmacists in order to get insights regarding HPV vaccine service. Adolescent HPV vaccination was available at 45 percent of the pharmacies surveyed. Parental consent, monitoring, and patient memory, perceived stigma of vaccination, and teaching about or advocacy of vaccination were all cited as obstacles by pharmacists when it came to delivering HPV vaccine.
Pharmacists who provide HPV vaccination provided patient reminders and used telephone reminders for vaccinations with multiple doses. Pharmacists most often notified patients’ primary care providers about HPV vaccine doses by fax and updating electronic medical records. Vaccination rates may be improved at their pharmacy by 75%, according to 75% of respondents. In the United States, despite being easily accessible, pharmacies are underused for HPV vaccination. National initiatives should be expanded to increase public knowledge of in-pharmacy HPV vaccination and to enhance pharmacists’ use of state IIS for reporting immunization coverage of adolescents.
Reference: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21645515.2018.1556077
