Factors Affecting Pharmacist-Administered Vaccine Injection and Adherence Rates in Canada

John Papastergiou, Tom Smiley* and Michelle Donnelly

Public health legislation that has increasingly enabled pharmacist administration of influenza vaccine in Canadian provinces has paralleled increases in the percentage of the public receiving the vaccination since the 2105/16 influenza season. Pharmacists now administer more influenza vaccine injections than any other health professional. This study was conducted to determine provincial legislation and public funding criteria that could similarly increase level of population immunization through percentage of vaccines administered by pharmacists for five multi-dose vaccines. A second objective was to compare follow-up injection adherence rates for pharmacist-administered vaccines versus those administered by doctors or other healthcare professionals. Results of this retrospective data analysis of 351,852 patients across Canada suggest that immunization and adherence rates of pharmacist-administered vaccines is positively associated with increasing levels of enabling legislation, public health coverage and prescribing rights of pharmacists such as that found in the province of Alberta.