key: cord-0075994-ju1zjpkj
authors: Plans Rubió, Pere
title: Role of community pharmacies in the prevention of communicable diseases()
date: 2022-03-24
journal: nan
DOI: 10.1016/j.vacune.2022.02.002
sha: 2bc8c9ffa2bc0d8abe0332031f942047cbac6dad
doc_id: 75994
cord_uid: ju1zjpkj

nan

Letter to the editor Role of community pharmacies in the prevention of communicable diseases ☆ Rol de las farmacias comunitarias en la prevención de enfermedades transmisibles

The involvement of community pharmacies in the prevention and detection of communicable diseases is becoming increasingly important. Traditionally, pharmacies have dispensed medicines against infectious diseases, vaccines, and means to prevent communicable diseases. It is now recognised that community pharmacies can carry out activities that prevent and detect communicable diseases and that complement the activities carried out by health centres. These activities include health education to increase confidence in vaccines and preventive programmes, vaccination, and screening for communicable diseases. 1 Community pharmacists act as health educators, informing the patients they serve about the importance of vaccinations that should be received in childhood and adulthood. The educational activity of pharmacists is essential to achieving adequate vaccination coverage for the vaccines indicated for adulthood, as adult vaccination depends on trust in vaccines and vaccination schedules. 2 An example of this is the recommendation of the annual influenza vaccination by pharmacists for patients in their care aged 65 years and over and for those under 65 years who are at high risk of complications from influenza.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the activities conducted by pharmacists in pharmacies have been indispensable in dealing with the pandemic and softening its impact on the healthcare system. 3 Activities that have been and continue to be performed by pharmacies around the world include health education and counselling, medication optimisation, recording and monitoring of adverse effects of medication, recording and resolution of medication-related problems, and information to clients regarding healthcare and pandemic issues. 4 In Spain, in addition to these activities, pharmacies have participated in controlling the pandemic by registering and dispensing tests for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

It is now considered that community pharmacies can also develop in-office vaccination activities that complement the activities of vaccination services. There are several reasons for incorporating vaccination into the activities of community pharmacies. First, pharmacybased vaccination can help to increase vaccination coverage, especially in adults. Second, pharmacy-based vaccination reduces the burden on existing vaccination centres. Third, pharmacy-based vaccination facilitates access to adult vaccination.

Community pharmacies carry out vaccinations in countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Canada, Ireland, Portugal, France, and Switzerland. 5 Vaccines that can be administered in pharmacies include: influenza, pneumococcal, human papillomavirus, tetanus and pertussis vaccines, and vaccines required for international travel. In Ireland, the incorporation of community pharmacies into vaccination activities in 2011 has increased influenza vaccination coverage by 48%. 5 In the United Kingdom and the United States, COVID-19 vaccination has been bolstered by community pharmacies. 6, 7 The incorporation of vaccination into the activities of community pharmacies requires, however, that the following requirements be met: (1) pharmacists must have completed a preparedness programme, (2) pharmacies must have the appropriate equipment to carry out quality vaccination activity, and (3) pharmacists must have permission to perform these vaccination activities in the pharmacy.

In recent years, syndromic surveillance systems for influenza and other health problems have been developed with the participation of community pharmacies. 8 In 2017, a new influenza surveillance system based on information collected by a network of sentinel pharmacies was implemented in Catalonia. Analysis of the data collected in the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 influenza seasons has shown that the influenza surveillance system based on sentinel pharmacies carried out in Catalonia provides information that complements the information obtained through traditional influenza surveillance systems. 8 Thus, it was found that 79-80% of cases of influenza syndrome reported by pharmacies were in pindividuals with ages of between 15 and 64 years, and that 62-69% of the cases reported by pharmacies had not previously been seen in health centres. The data collected by sentinel pharmacies in Catalonia also made it possible to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccination against influenza in people aged 65 and over, finding that vaccination was associated with an effectiveness rate in preventing influenza syndrome treated in pharmacies of 51.4% in 2018-2019 and 67.1% in 2019-2020. 8 The development of influenza surveillance activities in sentinel pharmacies provides information on influenza morbidity not seen in health centres and reduces the burden on health centres. 

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The author declares having received payment from Seqirus for conferences.