Importance Of Immunizations

Recently there has been an increase in certain diseases, some of them preventable and others new to the scientific community for which research is being done in order to produce a treatment or vaccine against it. Regardless of the type of disease, the mission of healthcare professionals is to create awareness about such diseases and provide the patient with measures they can take not only to protect them, but to protect others as well. This is one of the main reasons why as part of the Foundations of Pharmacy Practice II course I completed an immunizations training that lead to a certification providing me the authorization to educate the community as well to participate in providing immunizations. The certification training consisted of 7 …show more content…
It is only through education the majority of the vaccine myths can be broken. One of the ways I plan to engage in the community is through volunteering opportunities at community pharmacies that recruit student pharmacist to perform immunizations during the seasons and providing educational talks through organizations such as APhA-ASP in the college as well as to high school students. Better yet, I will be able to provide immunizations to any patient that needs to at my upcoming community pharmacy rotation. I fell confident and I am certain that when a patient walks in the pharmacy asking to obtain more information about the flu vaccine I will provide them with the Vaccine Information Statement and I will explain that this official document has all the information that explains why they should get vaccinated, what are some risks of obtaining the flu vaccine, who can and cannot get the vaccine and benefits of obtaining the vaccination. If the patient expresses concern about getting the vaccine because they heard they could develop the flu by being immunized with the inactivated strength of influenza, I will be able to answer that other than experiencing a sore arm this vaccine has a similar side effect profile than placebo. Through clinical support information provided once the patient gains confidence and agrees to vaccination I will proceed to verify her immunization record to see if the patient is up to date with their immunizations and if there might be any other they could benefit as well from this visit. Afterwards, following the proper aseptic I will draw 0.5 ml of the flu vaccine making sure I use the appropriate vaccine. In other words if the patient has egg allergy flublock can be