"Pharmacists can play a role in coronavirus vaccinations"

The vaccination programme that will be rolled out in the Netherlands this year to vaccinate anyone who wishes against Covid-19 presents a major organisational challenge. According to Professor of Pharmaceutical care Marcel Bouvy, pharmacists could be of assistance in that effort. Bouvy also studies care for former coronavirus patients.

Local preferable to regional

As the various vaccines become available over the course of 2021, the number of doses will cease to be a limiting factor. The capacity of professionals who can administer the vaccines, on the other hand, is a major concern to Marcel Bouvy. “We’ve never before had the ambition to vaccinate so many people in the Netherlands. Nobody knows how much time that will take. For the moment, the task has been delegated to the Municipal Health Services. But the question is whether they’ll be able to handle it as the number of vaccinations increases. You absolutely want to prevent the human capacity from becoming the limiting factor.”

Municipal Health Services also work at the regional level, but vulnerable patients may be better served by vaccinating them in their own neighbourhoods. Bouvy: “The first thing that comes to mind is the first-line care: general practitioners. But many general practitioners would have trouble storing the vaccines due to a lack of proper freezing facilities. Pharmacists have those facilities, so perhaps local pharmacies could set up a vaccination station where around 50 people could be vaccinated every day. Pharmacist’s assistants could also help to prepare the vaccines for administration. Hospital pharmacists have already shown that they are able to get six or seven doses from a vial of vaccine. Toine Egberts, a hospital pharmacist and Professor of Clinical pharmacoepidemiology at Utrecht University, also believes that local pharmacies could be important for the progress of the vaccination programme.”

Research into post-coronavirus care

Bouvy’s research also considers the care for former coronavirus patients. “Some of the people who’ve been infected with a virus are at greater risk of suffering serious consequences. These are patients who are once again under first-line care, such as those with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and respiratory illnesses. We will probably have to reconsider their medication after a Covid-19 infection. A respiratory disease could become exacerbated. But medication for blood pressure or diabetes could be reduced if the patient has lost weight due to a long-term infection. On the other hand, a COVID-19 infection could also irritate the walls of blood vessels, which can increase the chance of cardiovascular disease. That would require additional prevention.”