Description
The profession can assist with more than vaccine administration alone, including education, referral and identifying missed opportunities, Aussie researchers say
Pharmacists help to boost vaccination uptake among children across a variety of settings and populations, a systematic review led by the University of Canberra has found.
Six studies were included, involving both the general pediatric population and high-risk groups such as pediatric organ transplant recipients and children with cystic fibrosis or diabetes.
General populations included adolescents in community pharmacy settings and children attending family medicine primary care clinics.
The evidence showed that pharmacist interventions—including screening, recommendation, education and direct immunisation—resulted in increased vaccination uptake.
In pediatric solid organ transplant settings, pharmacists reviewed immunisation histories, developed tailored vaccination plans, and communicated these plans to caregivers and multidisciplinary healthcare teams.
Among children with high-risk chronic conditions, pharmacists conducted structured immunisation screening during hospital admission or clinic visits, communicated vaccine needs during ward rounds, or facilitated vaccine ordering and documentation.
Pharmacists also administered vaccines and updated immunisation registries in outpatient clinics.
“Across the included studies, pharmacist-involved interventions were associated with higher levels of vaccination uptake among children,” the authors, including Professor Mark Naunton and Associate Professor Mary Bushell from the University of Canberra’s discipline of pharmacy, wrote last week in Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy.
For example, influenza vaccination among pediatric transplant recipients increased from 36% pre-intervention to 74% post-intervention, alongside a reduction in time to vaccination and fewer influenza diagnoses.
In hospitalised children with diabetes, pneumococcal vaccination increased from 27% to 42%, while vaccine ordering increased from 41% to 81%, with pharmacists working alongside doctors to order vaccines.
In a pediatric cystic fibrosis clinic where pharmacists were directly integrated into vaccine delivery and authorised to administer vaccines, larger increases in vaccination uptake were observed, with uptake of pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPSV23) increasing from 27% to 99%, HPV vaccination from 43% to 91%, and meningococcal vaccination from 24% to 97%.
At the population level, legislative authorisation of pharmacist-administered vaccination was associated with “substantial increases” in adolescent influenza vaccination rates.
However the review was limited to US studies, meaning the findings may not apply globally, said the authors.
“Although all studies included in the review were conducted in the US, many of the findings are relevant to the Australian context,” said Bushell, senior author and primary supervisor, and lead author and PhD candidate Shambel Nigussie Amare.
“Australian pharmacists are increasingly involved in vaccinating children and adolescents.
“In recent years, states and territories have progressively expanded pharmacist vaccination scope, including lowering eligible age thresholds for some vaccines,” Bushell and Amare told the AJP.
“The public increasingly see pharmacists as key vaccine providers.
“Improving accessibility may help reduce missed vaccination opportunities for children and adolescents and improve timely vaccine uptake.”
One of the key learnings from the review is that pharmacists can support childhood vaccination in multiple ways beyond vaccine administration alone, they added.
“Pharmacists are highly accessible healthcare professionals and can assist with vaccine education, identifying missed vaccination opportunities, supporting vaccine confidence discussions with parents and carers, and facilitating referral pathways where appropriate.”
See the full study here
| Period | 27 May 2026 |
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