Nearly six in ten French people are in favor of vaccination against seasonal influenza by pharmacists, according to a survey.
Get vaccinated in a pharmacy? The French are ready to take the plunge. A survey conducted by Odoxa and commissioned by the Order of Pharmacists, which actively campaigns for vaccination in pharmacies, reveals that 59% of those questioned are in favor of seasonal flu.
“Adherence to this solution is reaching particularly high levels among certain categories of the population: young people (61%) and seniors (61%), but especially managers (71%) and people living in the Paris region (65% ) would be particularly demanding of this measure ”, one can read in the Odoxa press release.
Increase immunization coverage
In fact, while mistrust of vaccines continues to grow within the French population, and vaccine coverage tends to decrease, vaccination by pharmacists appears to be an effective and pragmatic solution, capable of limiting the harmful effects of this double societal phenomenon.
“A large majority of seven out of ten French people (69% to 77%) thus agree with each of the three key arguments tested in our survey put forward by the promoters of such an authorization given to pharmacists”.
For 77% of those polled, vaccination against seasonal influenza in pharmacies would make it possible to “offer more possibilities of vaccination to the French”, but also to increase vaccination coverage and “to improve the protection of all French people”.
More remarkable still, those polled believe that this measure “would allow many French people who have never been vaccinated against the flu to consider doing so from now on”. Thus, nearly three in ten people (28%) who until now had never been vaccinated against the flu would declare themselves ready to do so if it was proposed by their pharmacist, reveals the survey. “This represents around 8 million people.”
Windfall
For the Order of Pharmacists, these results are a godsend. The opportunity to prove that they are privileged players in vaccination, no offense to other health professionals who would like to retain the monopoly of this act.
“Pharmacists want to strengthen their contribution to improving vaccination coverage, insists Isabelle Adenot, president of the National Council of the Order of Pharmacists. With the recent launch of DP-Vaccins, they will help French people who have a Pharmaceutical File to better monitor the status of their vaccinations ”.
But pharmacists want to go further than monitoring and promoting vaccination. Based on the results of this survey, the Order is therefore proposing the launch of a three-year experiment “allowing pharmacists to administer the flu vaccine to adults”.
International successes
The profession also recalls the results obtained internationally, which make it possible to establish the effectiveness of vaccination in pharmacies. “According to a study published in August 2016 by the International Pharmaceutical Federation, dispensing pharmacists administer vaccines in nearly 30% of countries”, recalls the Order, which quotes the United States, Canada, Australia, Portugal, United Kingdom, Switzerland, Ireland.
“In Australia, as part of the first phase of an experiment carried out in the state of Queensland in 2014 and 2015, 10,900 patients were vaccinated against influenza in pharmacies. 15% of them had never been vaccinated against influenza, 33% were not vaccinated every year, ”recalls the Order.
“In Ireland, influenza vaccination coverage increased from 53.8% in 2009 to 59.2% in 2013. 23% of people vaccinated against influenza in pharmacies in 2014-2015 had never received the vaccine before. 83% of these first-time vaccines belonged to a risk category ”. What will the French authorities say?
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