Independent Pharmacies Should Expand Their Vaccination Programs | NCPA 2024
A conversation with David Ha, PharmD, BCIDP, at the National Community Pharmacists Association 2024 Annual Convention and Expo.
“Pharmacies are the place to get your vaccines,” said David Ha, PharmD, BCIDP. “That is being widely recognized by patients, widely recognized by providers, [and even by] public health departments more and more.”
Ha, an infectious disease and antimicrobial stewardship pharmacist and PGY2 Infectious Disease Residency Program Coordinator at Stanford Health Care, presented 2 sessions at the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) 2024 Annual Convention and Expo on how to navigate the latest updates in respiratory, travel, and non-respiratory vaccines.
In an interview with Drug Topics at the conference, Ha discussed all of the important things that independent pharmacists need to know about updated vaccination guidelines from the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. However, Ha also spoke to the critical need for pharmacists to expand their immunization programs, emphasizing that offering different types of vaccines to the community can help address several issues, including access to care.
“I would highly encourage [pharmacists]—I would even venture as far as to say it’s now our responsibility as community pharmacists—to provide [vaccination] services broadly to patients,” Ha said. “Primary providers are not doing it as much as they were in the past and are deferring to community pharmacies. I would say it is the responsibility of community pharmacists to step up their vaccination programs to focus not just on seasonal vaccines…but also on nonseasonal vaccines…There is a huge need in the community for these vaccines.”
Be sure to check out our coverage from Ha’s sessions below:
Key Recommendations for 2024-2025 Respiratory Virus Season | NCPA 2024
ACIP Recommendations for Non-Respiratory Immunizations Remain Largely Unchanged | NCPA 2024
Click here to view all of our NCPA conference coverage.
