Administrative Barriers Limit Pharmacist-Administered Vaccination Rates

Despite being fully qualified, easily accessible, and cost effective, recent data published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association shows pharmacist-administered vaccinations are being limited by varying administrative factors from state-to-state.

Authors of the study used data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System to measure the impact of varied state pharmacist immunization authorities on both adult and older adults in 2018-2019. How the state authority predicts influenza vaccination was determined via multiple logistic regression.  

“Immunization authority was categorized into 1 of 3 mutually exclusive groups: independent authority, statewide protocol/standing order, or collaborative practice agreement (CPA),” stated the authors.

Compared to CPAs, states with independent authority (0.937, 95% confidence interval [CI]=0.889-0.986) and statewide protocol/standing order (0.947, 95%CI=0.906-0.990) showed statistically significant lower adjusted rates of influenza vaccination among the overall adult population.

Authors noted there was not a statistically significant difference among the older adult population.

“Although pharmacists are authorized to administer influenza vaccines, other factors (eg, resources, service offerings, social determinants) including administrative barriers in pharmacist immunization authority are possibly limiting increases in influenza vaccination rates,” concluded researchers.

Reference:
Are A, Hauser R, Spencer R, Satterfield J, Nguyen E. States’ pharmacist immunization authority and the impact on adult influenza vaccination rates. J Am Pharm Assoc. Published online April 26, 2022. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2022.04.017