TY - JOUR
T1 - Community pharmacists’ knowledge, beliefs, and perceived barriers toward vaccination services at community pharmacies
T2 - A cross-sectional study from Saudi Arabia
AU - Alrasheedy, Alian A.
AU - Alharbi, Alanoud T.
AU - Alturaifi, Hajar A.
AU - Alkhamis, Razan A.
AU - Almazyad, Reema S.
AU - Almozaini, Shaden S.
AU - Godman, Brian
AU - Meyer, Johanna C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Community pharmacists were recently authorized to provide vaccination services in Saudi Arabia. However, the implementation is still limited. Consequently, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and views of community pharmacists in the Qassim region regarding vaccines and vaccination services and to identify the barriers to providing such services. A total of 170 community pharmacists participated in the study (response rate = 73.91%). The mean overall knowledge of vaccines and vaccination was 10.25 ± 1.35 out of a maximum score of 14. The majority stated that vaccines are rigorously tested for their safety (92.94%), go through a stringent approval process to ensure their quality and efficacy (93.53%), and vaccines play a key role in preventing and controlling infectious disease outbreaks (97.06%). However, only 48.82% were aware that community pharmacists are legally authorized to provide adult vaccination services. Few participants were also aware of the dosing of the varicella vaccine (14.12%) and indications of the herpes zoster vaccine (21.18%). The overall mean score on beliefs/views was 31.91 ± 5.53 out of a maximum of 40, indicating positive beliefs/views regarding vaccination services. The study identified many barriers to implementing vaccination services. These included lack of support staff and technicians in community pharmacies (79.41%), lack of requirements and equipment to provide the service (74.11%), the service will add extra workload (72.94%), and lack of formal certification in pharmacy-based immunization delivery (66.48%). Consequently, a holistic strategy is required to improve pharmacists’ clinical knowledge of vaccines and to address the barriers to the implementation of vaccination services at community pharmacies.
AB - Community pharmacists were recently authorized to provide vaccination services in Saudi Arabia. However, the implementation is still limited. Consequently, this study aimed to assess the knowledge, beliefs, and views of community pharmacists in the Qassim region regarding vaccines and vaccination services and to identify the barriers to providing such services. A total of 170 community pharmacists participated in the study (response rate = 73.91%). The mean overall knowledge of vaccines and vaccination was 10.25 ± 1.35 out of a maximum score of 14. The majority stated that vaccines are rigorously tested for their safety (92.94%), go through a stringent approval process to ensure their quality and efficacy (93.53%), and vaccines play a key role in preventing and controlling infectious disease outbreaks (97.06%). However, only 48.82% were aware that community pharmacists are legally authorized to provide adult vaccination services. Few participants were also aware of the dosing of the varicella vaccine (14.12%) and indications of the herpes zoster vaccine (21.18%). The overall mean score on beliefs/views was 31.91 ± 5.53 out of a maximum of 40, indicating positive beliefs/views regarding vaccination services. The study identified many barriers to implementing vaccination services. These included lack of support staff and technicians in community pharmacies (79.41%), lack of requirements and equipment to provide the service (74.11%), the service will add extra workload (72.94%), and lack of formal certification in pharmacy-based immunization delivery (66.48%). Consequently, a holistic strategy is required to improve pharmacists’ clinical knowledge of vaccines and to address the barriers to the implementation of vaccination services at community pharmacies.
KW - Community pharmacies
KW - Saudi Arabia
KW - immunization
KW - policy
KW - public health
KW - vaccines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85206640050&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/21645515.2024.2414551
DO - 10.1080/21645515.2024.2414551
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85206640050
SN - 2164-5515
VL - 20
JO - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
JF - Human Vaccines and Immunotherapeutics
IS - 1
M1 - 2414551
ER -