Community Pharmacy – Based Immunization in Bayelsa State, Nigeria: Prevalence, Patterns and Logistics
Authors: Funsho Eniojukan Joshua , P Solomon Famvie Bello. 
Published: October 2024

Immunization is a global health and development success story, saving millions of lives every year. There are now vaccines to prevent more than 20 life threatening diseases helping people of all ages live longer , healthier lives. . There is currently vaccine underutilization globally especially in Africa prompting a need to increase the number of immunization providers and the number of sites where patients can receive immunizations. This study sought to assess the correlates of Community Pharmacy-Based Immunization (CPBI) practices in terms of prevalence of practice and patterns, and availability of logistics for smooth delivery in Bayelsa State, Nigeria. A total of 67 randomly – selected Community Pharmacists (CPs) were surveyed, whereby data was obtained with an appropriately designed, pre-tested and validated self-administered questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed with the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 Some of key findings of this study include the revelation that just slightly above half (52%) of the respondents, a modest proportion of the studied CPs, were involved in some forms of vaccination practices and were mainly involved with adult, paediatric and routine immunization . In addition, majority (59.70%) “Always” or “Sometimes” administered the vaccines themselves while 25.37% of the respondents “Always networked” with the Government (Ministry of Heath/Health Management Board) to provide immunization services; 40.3% “Sometimes networked” with other community pharmacists to provide immunization services; whereas 31.34% “Sometimes networked” with Non – Governmental Agencies such as world health organization (WHO), united nations international education fund (UNICEF) etc to provide immunization services. Furthermore, 80.60% of the respondents were never involved in the training and supervision of community health workers on the proper handling, usage and administration of vaccines and 82.09% were never involved in public health education and enlightenment programmes on vaccination.. About 43.28% of respondents sometimes handled Rotavirus vaccine. About 59.70% of the respondents “Sometimes” had Adequate or Regular supplies of vaccines; only 8.96% “Always” had adequate or Regular supplies and 31.34% “Never” had Adequate or Regular supplies. Although quite a few number of the respondents always had Electric Refrigerators (49.25%), Gasoline Deep Freezers (23.88%) and Vaccine Vial Monitor (VVM) (23.88%); most of them did not have the listed cold chain storage equipment. Nevertheless, about a third (31.34%) of the respondents claimed to “Always” maintain and 46.27% reported to “Sometimes” maintain the cold chain at all times. Worth noting, majority of the respondents (67.1%) never kept a register of clients and almost half (49.25%) never documented all Adverse Effects Following Immunization (AEFI). The most frequently encountered AEFI were Pain at injection site (34.33%), Redness or swollen at site of the injection (34.33%) and Fatigue (16.42%). .There is a strong need to improve on the present level of involvement of CPs in Bayelsa State with CPBI in order to tap into the resultant benefits of the practice.It is also very important for the CPs to always keep registers for clients and appropriately document all AEFIs.