6^th Asia-Pacific Pharma Congress

Biography

Biography: Justine Claveria Tanael

Abstract

Increasing cases of vaccine-preventable diseases and low vaccination rates among adults had led the pharmacists in other countries to become key players in disease prevention by expanding their roles in the administration of vaccines. In the Philippines, vaccine-preventable diseases continue to escalate. Moreover, vaccination among adults remains to be uncovered in the Expanded Program on Immunization of the Department of Health (Robles, 2015). Thus, the Philippine Pharmacists’ Association and Food and Drug Administration tailored a plan to implement a program authorizing FDA-trained community pharmacists to administer vaccines. This study aimed to describe the perceptions of the selected Filipino community pharmacists in Manila regarding the administration of adult vaccines. Through convenience and random sampling, a total of 300 questionnaires were distributed to licensed community pharmacists in the City of Manila and only 263 questionnaires returned which gave a response rate of 87.67%. A 5-point Likert scale was used to measure their perception in each category. The collected data were encoded and analyzed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 19. Spearman’s Rank-Order Correlation, Mann-Whitney U Test, Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and Fisher’s Exact Test were the biostatistical analyses used. Results showed that more than half of the respondents supported (69%) the pharmacy-based immunization program. Most community pharmacists agreed on the statements regarding the competence of the pharmacist to immunize (mean = 4.19 + 0.564), the increased accessibility of vaccinations to the community (mean= 4.10 + 0.582), the positive effects of the program to their professional services (mean = 3.71 + 0.535) and the readiness of their pharmacy (mean= 3.72 + 0.793) to adapt the program. In conclusion, community pharmacists conveyed a high acceptance level towards pharmacy-based immunization program.