To stem the pandemic it is essential to get vaccinated: those who have not yet done so, or if the need to do the third dose will soon be confirmed, can consider the possibility of getting vaccinated at the pharmacy.
Each reality, from the largest to the smallest, has its own reference pharmacy. Thanks to the framework agreement between the government, the regions and the autonomous provinces, Federfarma and Assofarm, albeit with some differences between region and region, it is possible to have the vaccine in the pharmacy to combat Sars-Cov-2 infection. In some regions, only those with a viral vector, Vaxzevria and COVID-19 Vaccine Janssen are administered, in others also those to mrna therefore Comirnaty and Spikevax.
Each pharmacy can decide on a voluntary basis whether to join the vaccination campaign: in this case it must notify the healthcare company and the order of pharmacists with territorial jurisdiction. Pharmacists must also train by attending the course COVID-19 vaccination campaign: the safe administration of the anti-vaccine SARS- CoV-2 Covid-19, organized by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, which also includes a practical exercise through tutoring by a health professional already qualified for inoculation.
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Each participating pharmacy must organize the spaces available in such a way that there is an acceptance area, an administration area and a monitoring area. Pharmacies that are too small or that in any case do not have adequate space to offer this service, may decide to vaccinate during the closing time of the pharmacy itself or to equip themselves with appropriate external facilities.
Pharmacies are present everywhere and this allows access to vaccination even in the smallest realities, where in recent months elderly people had to travel hundreds of km to get the vaccine or who were reached by army teams, sent directly on the territory.
Vaccine: what exceptions
The agreement provides that extremely fragile or allergic subjects are excluded from booking and inoculating the vaccine at the pharmacy. To give a practical example, if there has been a severe allergic reaction after a wasp sting, the pharmacist should refer the person to another vaccination site, usually a hospital setting.
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There are many other cases with no easy solution: how do you behave, for example with those who have already fallen ill with Covid and must take a dose of vaccine within 12 months of healing or those who have received the first dose and have then sick of Covid, without completing the vaccination cycle? In such cases, information on the opportunity and / or method of vaccination must be provided by the general practitioner or the ASL. Many regions, not surprisingly, have enabled dedicated numbers to resolve the main perplexities in case of doubts.
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The importance of acquiring informed consent with prevaccinal triage
This phase is fundamental: in small businesses often the pharmacist knows his patients very well, he knows what pathologies they are suffering from, which drugs they take or which supplements. The correct compilation of this part of the documentation is however essential to understand if the patient can be vaccinated or not: in some ASLs, in fact, it was expressly decided that the vaccine in the pharmacy can only be done if the answers to the questions in the form that concerns the state of health are all negative.
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What to do in case of adverse reactions
The national protocol for vaccination in pharmacies requires the patient, after administration, to stay in the appropriate spaces for 15 minutes to monitor the possible occurrence of adverse reactions. In the rare case that they occur, the pharmacist has the necessary expertise to use the first aid kits present in the pharmacy.
Reactions related mostly to the patient’s emotional state can also occur, which can present themselves in various forms: respiratory spasms, even hiccups, anxiety crises, episodes of hypotonia, hyporesponsiveness, fainting and collapse. In these cases it is not necessary to intervene with any pharmacological treatment of any kind, because they are transient episodes and without consequences.
Especially in younger subjects, vasovagal syncope may occur, i.e. a loss of consciousness lasting a maximum of a few minutes, due to a temporary decrease in blood flow to the brain, as a consequence of a sudden drop in blood pressure and a reduction in blood pressure. heart rate. The phenomenon can occur due to discomfort and / or pain at the time of inoculation, poor hydration, fear of needles. The effect is minimized by properly hydrating and putting the patient at ease: the pharmacist who is often a person you know and trust can be a key figure in minimizing this discomfort.
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Role of pharmacy vaccinations in the immediate future
“The framework agreement now in force, valid for the whole of 2021, is part of the implementation of the service pharmacy in response to the crisis of the hospital-centric healthcare model and the new health needs of the community – he says Roberto Tobia, secretary of Federfarma Nazionale. – Vaccination, not just the anticovid one, represents one of the many services that the 19 thousand Italian pharmacies make available in the area thanks to their capillarity, also reaching the citizens of inland areas, less served because they are further away from health facilities. The reorganization of health care involves the consolidation of a territorial network of assistance in which all professionals interact synergistically to protect the health and well-being of the citizen, who thus becomes the fulcrum of the new model of the National Health Service. In particular – he concludes Tobia – the collaboration of the pharmacist with the general practitioner and the specialist is fundamental in the management of the chronic patient, ensuring greater effectiveness of the treatment by monitoring adherence to therapy and greater economic sustainability of the entire system “.
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