Community Pharmacists in Vaccines Delivery Services in Nigeria: Perspectives from Stakeholders and Implications for Policy Reform

Abstract

Vaccination has proven to be one of the most potent ways of achieving disease prevention and consequently reducing the number of global deaths due to diseases. As a result, vaccination coverage must be prioritised in public health. Community pharmacists are pitched as being critical to reaching wider vaccination coverage in Nigeria due to their position as the most accessible healthcare professionals in the country. However, the factors affecting the involvement of these professionals as vaccine administrators have not been adequately established. This study was thus conducted as a collaborative action qualitative research via the interview of regulatory and professional stakeholders to ascertain this involvement and propose steps to be taken towards the progress of integrating the pharmacists into immunisation programmes. The study results showed that while pharmacists are not directly restricted to administering vaccines, they also are not enabled to do so by law. Also, the uptake of vaccine administrator role by pharmacists would be beneficial to the Nigerian health system and efforts are geared towards the official incorporation of pharmacists as such. To this end, the support of the Government via funding and policymaking is solicited for better outcomes.