Governments and other stakeholders must take urgent action to ensure equity in access to disease prevention measures, which includes greater investment in vaccines and vaccination services by community pharmacists. So said FIP in a call to action made today at the start of a new FIP Digital Programme to transform vaccination globally and regionally.

 

The call to action, issued by the global body representing the pharmacy profession, explains the ethical, economic and public health imperative to diversify vaccination pathways and strategies beyond infancy and across all ages. It appeals for developments in regulatory frameworks, education and training of the pharmacy workforce, and appropriate remuneration models to support and sustain a broader role for community pharmacies in increasing vaccination coverage rates.

“This call is particularly urgent as vaccines against COVID-19 enter advanced stages of clinical research, and mass immunisation strategies will be required not only to protect the most vulnerable population groups, but to avoid additional lockdowns and economic paralysis. Today is World Pharmacists Day, which has the theme ‘Transforming global health’. Increasing vaccination coverage is one of the most effective ways of doing this,” said FIP CEO Catherine Duggan.

This call to action will be linked to a commitment to action that FIP will ask its member organisations to make, setting the path of action and delivery, at the end of its “Transforming vaccination globally and regionally” programme in December.