Today's Perspective
Kristin Wiisanen, PharmD, FAPhA, FCCP, Pharmacy Today editor in chief
According to CDC, more than half of adults in the United States are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with 63% having received at least one dose. While that is amazing progress in a short time, and vaccine uptake has continued to increase since its initial approval in December 2020, it isn’t enough. During the last year, we have seen pharmacists rise to the top in the COVID-19 vaccine supply and administration chain. As of June 10, 2021, more than 85 million vaccine doses have been administered and reported by community pharmacies, with a total of 21 retail pharmacy partners in 41,000 locations participating in the effort. Pharmacists have become the immunization superheroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a special feature in this month’s Pharmacy Today, we highlight the stories of a handful of those pharmacists and their efforts to not only administer vaccines, but to increase vaccine confidence in hesitant patients (p. 28). Pharmacists report that they have learned to take a tailored approach to address each patient’s unique concerns, creating educational videos in multiple languages that are posted to social media to reach diverse patient populations, as with RxClinic Pharmacy in Charlotte, NC. Or holding virtual town halls with targeted patient populations to combat patients’ doubts and fears with evidence-based information, such as has been done in Alaska. By hosting vaccine clinics in churches, gyms, parking lots, stadiums, community centers, and neighborhoods, pharmacists have reached patients in need. “The strongest vaccine advocates are [our] neighbors. … We asked them to spread the word,” reports Ambar Keluskar, PharmD, supervising pharmacist at Rossi Pharmacy in Brooklyn, NY. This issue of Today tells these stories and reviews strategies to build COVID-19 vaccine confidence in an accompanying CPE article (p. 38).
As always, you can also find the latest on newly approved drugs (p. 16), OTCs, and alternative medicines such as pre- and probiotics (p. 20) and acupuncture (p. 19) in this issue. You’ll also get recent information on human overdoses connected with the animal tranquilizer xylazine (p. 25), the impact of adverse pregnancy outcomes on cardiovascular disease risk in women (p. 26), and much more.
Pharmacists are making a difference in the COVID-19 immunization efforts in the United States. Today, I encourage you to carry that torch: Encourage leaders and others in your community as vaccine champions, educate people about vaccine development, efficacy, and safety, and celebrate your own choice to get vaccinated. Always remember, as pharmacists, we are influencers and leaders in the efforts to vaccinate patients against COVID-19.
Have a great Today!