Top Tips for Pharmacy Vaccination Clinics | NCPA 2024
Before marketing your pharmacy’s immunizations services, check out these takeaways from NCPA.
When it comes to administering vaccines, pharmacists are clearly leaders in their communities. The COVID-19 vaccine is just one such example: More than 8 in 10 Americans have received their COVID-19 vaccine at a pharmacy, which David Ha, PharmD, BCIDP, described as “a testament to the power of community pharmacy.”
Independent pharmacies can partner with local health care providers to maximize their immunization offerings | image credit: Tan - stock.adobe.com
Ha presented 2 sessions1,2 at this year’s National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA) Annual Convention and Expo, held October 26-29 in Columbus, Ohio, both focused on vaccines. (Check out our recaps of Part 1 and Part 2.)
In addition to covering the ins and outs of respiratory and non-respiratory vaccines, Ha also provided some practical tips and takeaways that pharmacists can implement in their practice to market their vaccination services. Read on for some top tips that can be implemented in the pharmacy today.
Target Your Marketing
When it comes to pediatric vaccines, “You may not be marketing directly to the patients themselves, but you are most likely marketing to their parents,” Ha said. Luckily, there are plenty of resources available to facilitate conversations with parents and caregivers—even those who may be vaccine hesitant.
Prioritize Partnerships
Independent pharmacists can and should look for potential local partners with whom they can collaborate on vaccine marketing campaigns.
Back to school season starts over the summer and is a prime time to work with local schools, colleges, and pediatricians’ offices on vaccine campaigns. Using age-based targets, pharmacists can identify and target the correct groups of patients:
- Age 11 to 12 years: human papillomavirus (HPV), quadrivalent meningitis (MenACWY, dose 1), Tdap
- Age 16 years: MenACWY (dose 2), catch up vaccines
- Age 17 to 18 years: Meningitis B, college and catch-up vaccines
“In our local area, we’ve got a ton of independents who are partnering with local schools [and] pediatricians’ offices,” Ha said. “These are active collaborations, recommending that folks get their vaccinations at their local independent [pharmacy].”
Local health care partners can drive business to the pharmacy, but pharmacies can also drive business right back to their partners. If there are vaccines that you don’t—or can’t—provide, “having a local list of other pharmacies, other clinics, doctor’s offices, health departments…that may be able to provide those vaccines to patients is really helpful,” Ha explained. This list can also include school-based health centers, travel clinics, and Planned Parenthood locations.
Address Hesitancy
“One of the more sticky points” for the HPV and meningococcal vaccines is vaccine safety, Ha said. Luckily, “we have excellent safety data for all of these vaccines.”
READ MORE: Pharmacy Technicians Could Enhance Public Health by Becoming ‘Vaccine Champions’
The Unity Consortium is an organization with the goal of ensuring that 90% of adolescents and young adults receive nationally recommended vaccines. “They have some great resources…and great recommendations on how to incorporate adolescents as an intentional part of your vaccine campaigns,” Ha explained. Among other resources are a series of videos—available in English and Spanish—that address common topics like hesitancy about vaccines for Meningitis B and HPV and talking to teens about their vaccine decisions.
Confirm Eligibility
Eligibility of pharmacists to vaccinate, that is. “I want to acknowledge the fact that many of you may be living in states that have age limits to when you can vaccinate,” Ha said. “Thankfully, many of these states have provisions for things like HPV or the meningococcal vaccine, but not all do.”
The National Alliance of State Pharmacy Associations (NASPA) has resources on pharmacist and pharmacy technician immunization authority, created in partnership with the American Pharmacists Association (APhA). However, Ha recommends pharmacists check with their state and local Departments of Health and Boards of Pharmacy, as these limits may change.
Check out the rest of our NCPA coverage here.
