Perception, benefits and barriers to community pharmacy vaccination services in Nigeria; a cross-sectional study of two south-western states

Abstract Perception, benefits and barriers to community pharmacy vaccination services in Nigeria; a cross-sectional study of two south-western states Background: The pharmacy association in Nigeria is working assiduously to ensure that community pharmacists and pharmacies are included in national database as vaccinators and vaccination centres for routine immunisation but no study had assessed community pharmacists’ opinions on the expanded scope to their practice. This study assesses the perception of community pharmacists, perceived benefits and potential barriers to these services to determine their readiness. Methods: Semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale was distributed to 474 selected community pharmacists through hard copies and Google forms in Year 2023, to assess their perception, perceived benefits and potential barriers to community pharmacy vaccination services. Data were analysed with descriptive and inferential statistics where p-value was set at 0.05. Results: Respondents agreed that community pharmacies should be involved in administration of vaccines (98.8%), their inclusion into the national data as vaccinator is a welcomed development (98.5%), and community pharmacists should be given the authority to administer vaccines (96.6%). Total mean score of 27.93 (SD +2.768) from a total score of 30 was obtained. Respondent further agreed and strongly agreed that this will improve vaccination coverage (99.5%), increase accessibility to vaccines (99.3%), improve the provision of pharmaceutical care service and rational use of medicines (98.5%), among others with total mean score of 51.12 (SD + 4.281) from a total score of 55. Lack of authorization by the government and existing policy not in support of the service was the highest potential barrier (85.6%) with total mean score of 39.96 (SD + 7.325) from a total score of 55. In overall, perceived benefits and perception are strongly and positively correlated (r=0.645, p410 =143.669, p Conclusion: The study concluded that most of the respondents had positive perception about community pharmacies vaccination services and using community pharmacies and pharmacists as vaccination centres and vaccinators respectively will improve vaccination coverage. Despite potential barriers noted which could be overcome by the community pharmacists themselves, lack of government authorisation needs to be handled at policy making level.