Insights into vaccination: a cross-sectional study of knowledge, attitudes, and barriers among community pharmacists in Turkiye

Abstract

Background: Community pharmacists play a vital role in public health by promoting and providing vaccination services. Their knowledge, attitudes, and perceived barriers are critical determinants of their effectiveness in this role. The primary outcomes of this study were pharmacists' knowledge, attitudes, and logistical challenges related to vaccination, with the hypothesis that these factors differ according to sex, years of experience, job title, and pharmacy location. Materials and methods: This study is an online cross-sectional survey of all community pharmacists. A standardized 50-item questionnaire was used to obtain demographic information, vaccination knowledge, attitudes toward vaccines, and barriers to vaccination. Descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, means, medians, standard deviations and chi-square tests were applied via SPSS 29.0 to analyze the dataset. Results: An online survey of 489 pharmacists revealed critical findings. Significant knowledge gaps exist, particularly concerning tetanus vaccination: only 59.3% knew the booster dose, and 54.4% recognized the primary 3-dose series. Attitudinally, 18% were ambivalent or did not advocate the influenza vaccine. Demographic analyses revealed complex influences: female pharmacists were less likely to agree that vaccines are safe (OR = 0.57, p = 0.0107) and less likely to feel professional pressure (OR = 0.54, p = 0.0043) than males were. Critically, the perception that tetanus is a serious threat was negatively correlated with age (r = -0.2390, p < 0.001). Major systemic barriers include the lack of authority to administer vaccines, insufficient reimbursements (68.5% reporting inadequacy), and the widespread absence of a method to identify unvaccinated adults (91% reporting no method). Conclusion: Before advocating for an expanded scope to include vaccine administration, substantial efforts to improve pharmacists' knowledge and attitudes and address logistical barriers must be prioritized.