Readiness and willingness of Malaysian community pharmacists in providing vaccination services
Background: Vaccination is an efective public health intervention in reducing morbidity and mortality of infectious diseases. Compared to other countries where community pharmacists (CPs) administer vaccines, CPs in Malaysia are not authorised. This study aimed to assess CPs’ readiness and willing...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English English English |
| Published: |
Springer Nature
2022
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://irep.iium.edu.my/101452/1/101452_Readiness%20and%20willingness%20of%20Malaysian.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/101452/2/101452_Readiness%20and%20willingness%20of%20Malaysian_SCOPUS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/101452/3/101452_Readiness%20and%20willingness%20of%20Malaysian_WoS.pdf http://irep.iium.edu.my/101452/ https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s40545-022-00478-0.pdf |
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| Institution: | Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia |
| Language: | English English English |
| Summary: | Background: Vaccination is an efective public health intervention in reducing morbidity and mortality of infectious
diseases. Compared to other countries where community pharmacists (CPs) administer vaccines, CPs in Malaysia are
not authorised. This study aimed to assess CPs’ readiness and willingness to provide vaccination in Malaysia, identify
potential barriers to and factors supporting the provision of this service.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Malaysian CPs from April to June 2021. A validated online
questionnaire was distributed through social media, instant messaging, email, and pharmacy societies.
Results: Of 492 CPs recruited throughout Malaysia, 439 (89.2%) expressed willingness to provide vaccination services
to the public, 403 (81.9%) agreed with the accessibility of community pharmacies to the public, and 73.4% agreed
that their role in vaccination could help to improve the overall vaccination coverage rate. The lack of pharmacist training in vaccination and concerns on maintaining patient safety were identifed as barriers to CPs’ implementation of
vaccination services, with 52.8% and 47.8% of them agreeing, respectively. Training sessions and operational guidelines on providing vaccination services are required to overcome the barriers.
Conclusion: CPs in Malaysia were ready and willing to provide vaccination services to the public. However, the
implementation demands training workshops and re-evaluation of CPs in public vaccination programmes by Malaysian healthcare policymakers. |
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