Pharmacists As Immunizers 08

Forty-seven states now authorize pharmacists to administer immunizations, making New York one of the last states to adopt this innovative strategy to improve adult immunization rates. It should come as no surprise that New York also lags behind the rest of the country in the rate of adult immunization.

The Pharmacists Society strongly supports legislation that would amend the Education Law to create an immunization certificate for pharmacists willing to administer adult flu and pneumococcal vaccines. The bill would require pharmacists to complete a twenty-hour (20) CDC-approved course or an equivalent approved by the NYS Education Department.

Pharmacies are excellent immunization sites. During the 2006-2007 flu season, pharmacists administered more than five million immunizations, and the nation's pharmacies hosted more than 15,000 flu shot clinics.

At this time of terrorist threats from chemical or biological agents and pandemic preparedness conversations about the threat of avian flu, it is appropriate, even urgent, for state policy to view pharmacists as competent health care professionals who have the advantage of being easily accessible to the public through the network of 4,000 community pharmacies located throughout the state. Pharmacists are required to be at the staging areas for the National Drug Distribution as part of preparedness planning, and it makes good sense to mobilize the pharmacists already present at the site to assist in mass immunization for influenza if that becomes necessary.

Click Here to read the Pharmacists As Immunizers Coalition Letter and the 17 other supporters of this legislation.

Click here to view the United States graphic of states allowed to immunize.