IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/hepoli/v131y2023ics0168851023000830.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community pharmacists as vaccinators in the Italian SARS-CoV-2 immunization campaign: implications beyond the pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Baratta, Francesca
  • Enri, Lorenzo Ravetto
  • Brusa, Paola

Abstract

Italy was one of the last European countries to introduce vaccination in pharmacies. The urgent need to extend the vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2 led to the approval of Law no. 178/2020. The Law allowed the administration of COVID-19 vaccines in Italian pharmacies by community pharmacists on an experimental basis for the years 2021-2022. Stakeholders took contrasting positions on the idea of enabling pharmacist to vaccinate after proper training. Sometimes, controversy existed even within the same associations representing pharmacists. As observed in other countries, the medical profession in Italy also expressed its opposition to the idea of pharmacists as vaccinators, while the general public and pharmacy customers were generally in favour of the policy. Over two million doses of SARS-CoV-vaccines were administered in Italian pharmacies in less than one year after the introduction of the policy. Criticism and concerns raised during the debate about the introduction of vaccination in pharmacies has subsided. It is yet unclear whether vaccination in pharmacies will be prolonged after the pandemic and whether it will, in fact, be expanded to other vaccines. Potentially, this could contribute towards increasing immunisation rates, not only for COVID-19, but also for other vaccines.

Suggested Citation

  • Baratta, Francesca & Enri, Lorenzo Ravetto & Brusa, Paola, 2023. "Community pharmacists as vaccinators in the Italian SARS-CoV-2 immunization campaign: implications beyond the pandemic," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:131:y:2023:i:c:s0168851023000830
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104798
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168851023000830
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.healthpol.2023.104798?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Francesca Baratta & Giulio Mario Visentin & Lorenzo Ravetto Enri & Marco Parente & Irene Pignata & Francesco Venuti & Giovanni Di Perri & Paola Brusa, 2021. "Community Pharmacy Practice in Italy during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Regulatory Changes and a Cross-Sectional Analysis of Seroprevalence," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-13, February.
    2. Francesca Baratta & Michele Ciccolella & Paola Brusa, 2021. "The Relationship between Customers and Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: A Survey from Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francesca Baratta & Elena Folpini & Michele Ciccolella & Paola Brusa, 2023. "Patient Care in Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: Effectiveness of Post-Graduate Education and Further Training Courses on Revenues," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-8, February.
    2. Francesca Baratta & Michele Ciccolella & Paola Brusa, 2021. "The Relationship between Customers and Community Pharmacies during the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) Pandemic: A Survey from Italy," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-13, September.
    3. Cobelli, Nicola & Cassia, Fabio & Zardini, Alessandro & Kuppelwieser, Volker G., 2024. "Pharmacies providing health services: Attitudes toward eHealth in Italy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    4. Steliana Ghibu & Anca Maria Juncan & Luca Liviu Rus & Adina Frum & Carmen Maximiliana Dobrea & Adriana Aurelia Chiş & Felicia Gabriela Gligor & Claudiu Morgovan, 2021. "The Particularities of Pharmaceutical Care in Improving Public Health Service during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(18), pages 1-20, September.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:131:y:2023:i:c:s0168851023000830. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu or the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/healthpol .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.