Increasing vaccination uptake through community pharmacy
With UK vaccination uptake falling and concerns that it could fall further, this report urges that pharmacies are harnessed to deliver more NHS vaccines to drive uptake, improve patient confidence and prevent ill health. The report comes over a year after the publication of NHS England’s vaccination strategy which outlines three key priorities – improving access, “vaccination delivery in convenient local places, with targeted outreach to support uptake in underserved populations”, and a “more joined-up prevention and vaccination offer”. Community pharmacy offers a route to rapidly increase the access to vaccination – a clear ambition of the NHS Vaccination Strategy. By commissioning pharmacies to deliver more NHS vaccines, the PVDG believe that this would lead to an immediate step-change in uptake.
The report was launched by the ‘Pharmacy Vaccinations Development Group’, a coalition of organisations representing the entire vaccines supply chain.