The study pulled data from published literature, government agencies and professional pharmacy associations to determine the number of COVID-19 vaccines pharmacists have administered. From February 2020 through September 2022, pharmacists provided more than 270 million COVID-19 jabs, meaning they “plausibly accounted” for more than 50 percent of U.S. COVID-19 vaccinations.
Since the paper was published, that number has racked up to 282 million, APhA said Nov. 4.
John Grabenstein, PhD, president of consultancy business Vaccine Dynamics and former global executive director for medical affairs of Merck’s vaccine segment, ran the study. Dr. Grabenstein concluded that for the past two and a half years, pharmacists have worked around “supply constraints, intricate storage requirements, workflow revisions and workforce shortages,” which “came at a personal cost” to their mental and physical health.
“This is the first peer-reviewed study which documents the incredible impact that pharmacy had on the health and well-being of our nation, across the entire spectrum of potential patient interventions,” Ilisa Bernstein, PharmD, APhA’s interim CEO and executive vice president, said in a statement. “There’s only one conclusion to draw from this impressive report — the work of pharmacists during the pandemic has been heroic.”
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