Pharmacists’ willingness to administer COVID-19 vaccine: A survey from Yogyakarta community pharmacists

Abstract

The global focus for reducing cases during this pandemic is COVID-19 vaccination. The purpose of this study is to investigate community pharmacists’ perceptions and identify factors that influence their willingness to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. A self-administered online survey based cross-sectional study was conducted in Yogyakarta Province. The questions were created using existing questionnaire from the literature, then validated and pilot tested on a group of pharmacists. This study included pharmacists from community pharmacies. Descriptive and logistic regression analysis were used. An online survey was completed by 120 pharmacists from community pharmacies, including 58 chief pharmacists and 62 companion pharmacists. Most participants agreed on several points concerning the role, benefits, enablement, and barriers of pharmacists providing vaccinations. Our study also discovered that the willingness of community pharmacists to administer COVID-19 vaccine was significantly related to age (under 40 years old), working experience (under 10 years), pharmacy location (urban area), distance from health facilities (under 5 kilometers), and availability of service for universal health coverage (UHC) patients. The majority of community pharmacists had positive attitudes about providing COVID-19 vaccines. It is hoped that the new role of community pharmacists as vaccinators will help to accelerate COVID-19 vaccination coverage in Indonesia.