Influenza vaccination in the community pharmacy: opinion of patients and pharmacists

Objectives: To find out the opinion of patients and community pharmacists (CPs) regarding the possible administration of the influenza vaccine in pharmacies and to verify whether an educational campaign manages to improve vaccination intention.

Material and methods: Observational study with educational intervention. 

Subjects: pharmacy users over 45 years old. Practicing CPs in the province of Pontevedra.

Patient variables: demographic, membership of the risk group, vaccination intention before/after the intervention, opinion about being vaccinated at the pharmacy.
CP variables: demographic, opinion on vaccination by the CP, need for training, to whom the accreditation would correspond. 
Procedure: the participant was explained the purpose of the study and those who had not been vaccinated were informed of the benefits of getting vaccinated. Two hundred CPs from Pontevedra were sent an ad hoc questionnaire.

Results: One hundred fifty-seven users were interviewed, 134 (85.4%) were in favor of being vaccinated by the CP. No differences between sexes, studies, or belonging to a risk group. After the intervention, of 92 who did not plan to get vaccinated, 27 (29.6%) decided to go and do it.
93 responses from CPs (46.5%). 63 (67.7%) in favor of the vaccination by CP, with significant differences between owners/assistants (p<0.05) and members/non-members of SEFAC (p<0.05). 82 (88.2%) CPs think that specific training is needed for the activity.

Conclusions: The majority of patients and pharmacists believe that the pharmacy should be the point of administration of the influenza vaccine. This is significantly higher among owners and members of SEFAC. Vaccination intention improved by 29.4%.