Pharmacists can now administer 14 additional vaccines to people aged 16 and over.
Will going to a pharmacy rather than a doctor get vaccinated become the norm? In any case, it is an additional step in this direction that has just been taken. Indeed, in addition to vaccines against influenza and Covid, pharmacists can now administer 14 additional vaccines to people aged 16 and over. These are the vaccines recommended in the vaccination schedule, against diphtheria, tetanus, poliomyelitis, whooping cough, papillomavirus, or hepatitis A and B viruses.
On the other hand, unlike those against the flu and the coronavirus which can be delivered and administered directly by the pharmacist, these 14 vaccines must, for the moment, be prescribed by the doctor. A provision that should only be transitional, since the Social Security financing bill provides that pharmacists can prescribe certain vaccines.
Transform essay
“This extension of vaccination in pharmacies aims to extend vaccination coverage”, explains Bruno Maleine, president of the Central Council of pharmacy holders at the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists. In children, the introduction of compulsory vaccination has boosted the vaccination coverage rate for the 11 vaccines concerned. But these rates often remain poor in adolescents and adults. If we take the example of the papillomavirus, only 33% of adolescent girls have been fully vaccinated. For hepatitis B, after 15 years, the vaccination rate is around 40%…
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Since the introduction of vaccination against the flu, and especially that of Covid, the French have become accustomed to pharmacists vaccinating them. “We convinced the population that we could strengthen our role in prevention. And today, many of them regularly ask us if we can vaccinate them for something else or challenge us to find out if they are up to date with their vaccinations.testifies Bruno Maleine.
It is up to the pharmacists today to transform the trial and prove that their participation actually makes it possible to increase the rate of vaccination coverage. “To do this, we will have to promote vaccination among healthy adults who rarely go to the doctor and who do not always remember to recall their vaccines”concludes Bruno Maleine.