Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Oyo State Branch, Mr Adegboyega Oguntoye has told the Federal government that quelling COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and increasing uptake of the vaccine require increased involvement of pharmacists to dispense and educate about the vaccine.
Mr Oguntoye at a media brief to flag off the 2021 Pharmacy week with the theme “Pharmacists as Frontline Care Providers in Public Health Epidemics and Pandemics” stated that if people were told of the safety of vaccines by their pharmacists, they most likely will understand the importance of taking the vaccines.
Oguntoye, flanked by Mr Adedayo Akala and Dr Femi Adeoye, the organization’s publicity secretary and secretary respectively and Dr Dapo Adetunji at the briefing said pharmacists have been in the job of convincing people to take their medications for the longest time and it is not new terrain for them to speak to people about the safety and significance of the vaccine.
According to him, “Today around the world, a section of the news always refers to the unwillingness of a part of the public to take COVID-19 vaccines. Their reason, they do not trust the vaccine. But what if they had people they trust educate them about the vaccine? The outcomes will most probably be more positive.
“In Nigeria today, pharmacists are perhaps the most accessible healthcare professionals. As luck would have it, our accessibility has grown into trust. This makes sense if you consider the fact that pharmacies are just around the corner of many homes.
“Many pharmacists have become a part of the societies they serve, and this sense of belonging earns them a certain level of sentiments. Sentiments influence judgments many times. So, if people were told of the safety of vaccines by their pharmacists, they most likely understand the importance of taking the vaccines.”
Mr Oguntoye, noting that pharmacists by WHO standard are classified as frontline providers, said the roles of pharmacists in vaccine use are becoming increasingly active as they are being trained to administer vaccines and this had positively influenced the rate of vaccination in such places.
He declared however that not all epidemics are infectious and that pharmacists have been subtly been at the fore of helping patients detect other noninfectious epidemics like hypertension and diabetes while referring them to appropriate quarters for assessment and thorough care.
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