SNS wants to extend vaccination to pharmacies

The Executive Directorate of the SNS intends to extend vaccination against tetanus and diphtheria in adults to community pharmacies, to increase population coverage.

After vaccination against covid-19 and influenza, in which more than 3.3 million vaccines have already been administered, the executive director of the SNS defended the importance of taking advantage of this “installed machine” in pharmacies to extend it to other vaccines in the Program National Vaccination (PNV), namely the tetanus and diphtheria vaccine.

“There is capacity, there is availability and I think it is an important way to increase adherence to this type of vaccine”, stated Fernando Araújo, citing data from the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS), according to which around half a million have been vaccinated. of users with these vaccines.

Fernando Araújo was speaking at the Conference “Pharmacies in the Journey of People’s Health”, promoted by the National Pharmacy Association (ANF), which presented the White Book on Portuguese Pharmacies, in Lisbon, adding that he will work with the DGS, from the point of view technical and standards, with Infarmed, for regulation, with the Order of Pharmacists and with pharmacies, to analyze how to do this.

“But we have all the conditions to also, within the scope of the PNV, in the case of adults, increase vaccination sites”, he defended, safeguarding that “primary health care always continues to be an open place for this purpose”.

In the case of vaccination, he stated, “opportunities cannot be missed”, since “when a user goes to a family doctor’s appointment or goes to a family nurse, for some reason, we always have to assess whether the vaccination plan vaccination is being met or not” and, if not, “offer that response”. Fernando Araújo argued that by expanding this possibility to more than 3,000 pharmacies, a “unique ability to reach those who sometimes” cannot be reached is created.