gms | German Medical Science

29th Annual Meeting of the German Drug Utilisation Research Group (GAA)

Gesellschaft für Arzneimittelanwendungsforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie

24.11. - 25.11.2022, Münster

Expanding vaccination services in pharmacies – key findings from a survey on COVID-19 vaccinations in Germany

Ausbau des Impfangebots in Apotheken – wesentliche Ergebnisse einer Umfrage zu COVID-19-Impfungen in Deutschland

Meeting Abstract

Gesellschaft für Arzneimittelanwendungsforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie e.V. (GAA). 29. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Arzneimittelanwendungsforschung und Arzneimittelepidemiologie. Münster, 24.-25.11.2022. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2022. Doc22gaa05

doi: 10.3205/22gaa05, urn:nbn:de:0183-22gaa055

Published: November 21, 2022

© 2022 Heydarpour et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.


Outline

Text

Background: Vaccination annually prevents 3.5 - 5 million deaths worldwide, proving itself to be one of the safest and most cost-effective ways for preventing and controlling life-threatening infectious diseases [1]. Even though it is undeniable that there is a plethora of positive effects of vaccination, excluding COVID-19 vaccinations, the vaccination rate in general has plateaued in the recent years and has been on a decline ever since 2020 [1]. This phenomenon has likely been worsened by the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, which may have caused a reduction of up to 7% in the vaccination rate of routine vaccinations in Germany [2].

Community pharmacists, who often act as the first point of contact regarding various health issues, can significantly facilitate the accessibility of vaccination services for people. This could potentially lead to an increase of vaccination rates. In this context, this project aims to evaluate the experiences of pharmacists with the administration of COVID-19 vaccinations in Germany and to identify key findings, which can be implemented in a possible future expansion of the currently authorized vaccination services.

Materials and Methods: A 3-week survey was conducted from 12th of August until 4th of September 2022 carried out as an online-based questionnaire, containing a total of 12 yes- and no- and multiple-choice-questions. Pharmacists from all across Germany were invited to participate anonymously via an online link published in the DAP (DeutschesApothekenPortal), an online community for pharmacists in Germany. The questionnaire was aimed at pharmacists, who had administered any COVID-19 vaccinations, as such, pharmacists who had not administered any COVID-19 vaccinations were excluded.

Results: There was a total of 1,186 participants, of which only 27.7% were community pharmacists who had carried out a vaccination and therefore were included in the survey. Pharmacists estimated that the total number of COVID-19 vaccinations performed since February 2022, (authorization by German government in December 2021 to vaccinate against the SARS-CoV-2 virus has been implemented [3], was on average 110. The three main reasons why patients utilized the vaccination service in pharmacies were easy accessibility (58.6%), lack of waiting times (42.1%) and problems with scheduling an appointment at the doctor´s office or the vaccination center (38.8%).

86.4% of the pharmacists expressed that they felt comfortable and capable while performing the COVID-19 vaccinations. Furthermore, 98.4% of the pharmacists reported that they did not encounter any problems while carrying out COVID-19 vaccinations. Only very few pharmacists (1.6%) reported problems with COVID-19 vaccinations. Most pharmacists (80.8%) supported the idea of a prospective expansion of the vaccination services in pharmacies. The top five vaccinations that were mentioned by the pharmacists to include in the prospective expansion were: TBE (74.2%), followed by diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (54.8%), shingles (50%), pneumococci (46.4%) and hepatitis B (43.1%).

Conclusion: The survey shows that the experiences with the vaccination services in pharmacies have been very positive. The majority of surveyed pharmacists felt comfortable and capable while performing the COVID-19 vaccinations and there were very few pharmacists, who reported problems. The vaccination service itself was especially appreciated by people for the easy accessibility that it offers, proving that it may be an effective way of increasing vaccination rates. Even though the participants were predominantly Community pharmacists (1,186), the number of pharmacists who have performed a COVID-19 vaccination was low in comparison (256). A similar study done by Rose et al. on COVID-19 vaccinations in German pharmacies showed that possible barriers in the permanent implementation of vaccination services were rooted in lack of space and personnel shortage [4]. However, most of the surveyed pharmacists who did vaccinate, advocated for a prospective expansion of the vaccination service to preferably include TBE vaccinations.


References

1.
World Health Organization. Vaccines and immunization. Overview. [last accessed on 09/16/2022]. Available from: https://www.who.int/health-topics/vaccines-and-immunization External link
2.
IQVIA Commercial GmbH & Co. OHG. Impfungen in Deutschland 2021 - Einblicke und Ergebnisse. [last accessed on 09/16/2022]. Available from: https://www.iqvia.com/-/media/iqvia/pdfs/germany/library/publications/impfungen-in-deutschland-2021.pdf External link
3.
Bundesrat. Ausgewählte Tagesordnungspunkte der 1013. Sitzung am 10.12.2021. [last accessed on 09/16/2022]. Available from: https://www.bundesrat.de/DE/plenum/bundesrat-kompakt/21/1013/1013-node.html External link
4.
Rose O, Erzkamp S, Schöbel W, Grajeda M, Köberlein-Neu J. COVID-19 vaccinations in German pharmacies: A survey on patient and provider satisfaction. Vaccine. 2022 Aug 19;40(35):5207-5212. DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2022.07.034 External link