About this Commitment:
As part of the 2020 programme “Transforming Vaccination Globally and Regionally”, FIP launched a FIP Commitment to Action on Improving Vaccination Coverage Through Pharmacies. Among other actions, the commitment included expanding vaccination pathways through pharmacies and pharmacists, and expanding the pharmacist’s scope of practice and education to include vaccination administration, as well as investing in prevention strategies that will help us reach equitable and sustainable access to vaccination.
Of FIP’s 21 development goals, 17 align with the aims of the 2020 programme. However, three are grounded in every part of the programme: Goal 10 — equity and equality; Goal 18 — access to medicines and services; and Goal 21 — sustainability in pharmacy. We cannot transform vaccinations regionally and globally without incorporating these three concepts in every part of the programme.
Building on the outcomes of the 2020 programme, the 2021 FIP Transforming Vaccination programme “Accelerating equity, access and sustainability through policy development and implementation” explored equity in vaccinations across the different angles of age, gender, literacy and education, and interprofessional unity and collaboration; in addition to identifying regional priorities across the globe.
This FIP Commitment is based on the outcomes of the 2021 transformation programme and will carve the pathway for integrating pharmacy-based vaccination within life-course immunisation.
FIP commits to transforming vaccination by accelerating vaccine equity, access and sustainability through:
Global and regional applicability
1. Supporting countries with accelerating policy development, implementation and transformation, through advocacy, guidelines and support.
2. Identifying the needs, priorities and challenges of every region through needs-based policy development.
Life-course immunisation
3. Recognising the impact of pharmacy-based vaccination delivery on disease prevention throughout life’s ages and stages from childhood (including pregnancy) to late adulthood.
4. Supporting countries to develop policies that enable pharmacies and pharmacists to deliver integrated vaccination services throughout the life-course and as part of wider national immunisation policies.
Gender
5. Recognising the multi-faceted impact of gender on vaccination access, delivery and policy, and the inequities in gender access to vaccines to inform pharmacy policy.
6. Supporting countries to develop policies that accelerate equitable access of vaccinations to all genders, empower women as caregivers to support vaccinations, mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on gender inequity, and address the issues around gender inequity in the workforce (which is especially important to discuss in 2021 Year of the Health Worker).
Health literacy
7. Recognising the impact of health literacy and vaccine hesitancy on vaccine uptake and sustainable access, disease prevention, and the overall health of the population and integrating it in policy setting.
8. Supporting countries to develop policies that empower pharmacists to address health literacy and reduce vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and disinformation in all parts of society by building trust through effective communication and easy access of correct and accurate information to patients and the public.
Working together
9. Recognising and fully harnessing the power of interprofessional collaboration as a driver to achieving equity, accessibility and sustainability in vaccination.
10. Supporting countries to develop policies that allow for the sharing of data and technology around vaccination as well as utilising a multidisciplinary workforce to make vaccinations equitable, accessible and sustainable.
