Knowledge, attitudes, and willingness of community pharmacists to provide vaccination services: a web-based cross-sectional survey in Uganda

Abstract

Community Pharmacists (CPs) play a significant role in improving vaccination rates and coverage by offering vaccination services in various countries. However, little is known about CP’s willingness to offer vaccination services in Uganda. The study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitudes, and willingness (KAW) of the CPs to offer vaccination services in community pharmacy settings in Uganda A nation-wide, web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted using a snowball sampling technique to obtain responses from community pharmacists across Uganda. A pre-designed data collection form was used to obtain information regarding demographics, knowledge about vaccination, attitude, willingness, and barriers to providing vaccination services among community pharmacists. A binary and multiple logistic regression analysis was employed to identify predictors of KAW towards vaccination services. A total of 290 community pharmacists participated in the study. Overall, 46.55% of pharmacists demonstrated good knowledge, 65.17% positive attitude, and 87.93% were willing to provide vaccination services. Barriers like lack of authorization (95.17%), lack of training (78.96%), lack of staffing/resources (76.90%), time constraints (74.14%), and vaccine-associated safety concerns (64.83%) were expressed by the CPs to offer vaccination services. Good knowledge and positive or neutral attitudes were significantly associated with willingness to offer vaccination services. The majority of the community pharmacists are willing to provide vaccination services, which could improve national vaccination coverage and public access. However, only half had adequate knowledge, and two-thirds showed positive attitudes. Targeted educational interventions and inclusion of community pharmacists in Uganda’s national immunization program are recommended to strengthen vaccination services.