Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) has said that Taiwan has secured almost 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, with the possibility of obtaining as many as 45 million.
Even though this news comes several months after other nations have obtained vaccines, it is nevertheless light at the end of the tunnel.
However, to administer the vaccines would mean four to nine times more injections than for the 5 million flu vaccinations every year, and this is as hospitals and clinics administering flu vaccines are frequently inundated.
The situation would be many times more fraught when administering a COVID-19 vaccine, which is exacerbated by the two-dose regime, with the second given a month after the first.
These factors mean that the vaccination program requires meticulous planning.
Even if Taiwan has the supply, it will take time to vaccinate a significant portion of the population, which is sure to have a major effect on the economy, society and health. With the exception of those in rural areas, the majority of Taiwanese enjoy ready access to medical resources — they can easily get vaccinated at a hospital or clinic.
Until now, pharmacists at local drugstores have provided the general public with most of their needs, but have not been required, nor should they have been, to administer vaccines. In addition, drugstore pharmacists are prohibited from diagnosing or treating people, while hospital pharmacists are only responsible for procuring and managing vaccines, and reporting any adverse reactions.
Recently, Federation of Taiwan Pharmacists’ Associations president Huang Chin-shun (黃金舜) proposed that pharmacists could offer assistance in the vaccination effort, with three considerations:
First, do authorities have access to sufficient labor and resources, especially when some vaccines require special storage facilities, which not all hospitals or clinics have?
Second, the International Pharmaceutical Federation has said that pharmacists in more than 30 countries have been approved to administer COVID-19 vaccines as an emergency measure, and Article 7 of the Special Act on COVID-19 Prevention, Relief and Restoration (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) states that “the commander of the Central Epidemic Command Center may, for disease prevention and control requirements, implement necessary response actions or measures.”
In other words, it is perfectly legal to have pharmacists administer vaccines.
Third, only pharmacists who have received appropriate training and accreditation would be approved to give inoculations. Those administering the shots should be able to evaluate whether a person should receive the jab and the risks involved, understand the specific characteristics of a situation and administer a schedule for each type of vaccination.
They must also know how to monitor post-injection reactions, including recognizing and dealing with serious adverse reactions, and know how to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other lifesaving techniques.
Given the unique circumstances of the pandemic, having the combined capabilities of all available medical professionals would not only be beneficial to public health education by sparking dialogue about vaccination, allaying public concerns over its safety and providing science-based knowledge, it would also make the rollout smoother.
It is in everyone’s best interests for the vaccine to be safely administered in Taiwan, at a pace at which it can keep up with other countries.
Rita Shen is a professor and dean at National Taiwan University’s School of Pharmacy.
Translated by Paul Cooper
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