message will overcome these barriers , so multiple barriers need to be addressed simultaneously . These barriers should also be considered in other vaccine programmes , particularly COVID-19 , early in the service design process and during each annual service review .
Health professionals who receive the influenza vaccine and hold positive vaccine attitudes are more likely to believe that vaccination should be mandatory for health professionals , but data suggests this is not always effective in increasing vaccine uptake . The COVID-19 pandemic has seen vaccination mandated for health professionals in a number of countries but is , unsurprisingly , controversial with many arguing it removes personal rights and freedoms and could be open to legal challenge . 16 Given the objections to mandated vaccination , more persuasive interventions are required initially . Individuals who believe it is their professional responsibility and regulatory expectation to be vaccinated are more likely to be
Attitudes and beliefs that contribute to vaccine hesitancy are vast and there is rarely only a single negative belief that drives hesitancy vaccinated , 8 therefore pharmacy regulators across the EU should look to add this to their professional standards for registrants .
Improving access to vaccination is imperative . If staff perceive it as too difficult to access , relative to their job commitments , they will be less likely to make the effort to seek vaccination . 10 , 17 This barrier can be removed by providing vaccinations free of charge directly at the place of work for pharmacy staff such as clinics , offices , staff rooms , and dispensaries . Many UK hospitals run peervaccinator programmes each winter , whereby health professionals act as vaccinators for other members of staff . Anecdotal evidence suggests hospital pharmacists do not act as peer-vaccinators to the same extent as their nursing and midwifery colleagues . This is a missed opportunity to increase availability of vaccination within pharmacy departments but is also a missed opportunity for pharmacists to act as vaccine advocates to their peers and other members of the pharmacy team
24 | Issue 99 | 2021 | hospitalpharmacyeurope . com