Brussels, 2nd July 2015

PRESS RELEASE European Pharmacy Students in Favour of the Pharmacist-delivered Vaccination The European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association (EPSA) is releasing its position paper supporting pharmacist-delivered vaccination today. EPSA has highlighted the importance of implementing new services in the community pharmacy setting to enable greater access to vaccines and increase overall immunisation coverage. The main highlights from the position paper: ● ● ● ●

Actions to increase immunisation rate in Europe are needed; Pharmacists should contribute to ensure high immunisation coverage and better public health by delivering pharmacy-based vaccination; Good examples of the pharmacist-delivered vaccination service should be expanded to all European countries; Pharmacists should undergo an appropriate training to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of the vaccination service.

Svetlana Kolundžić, President of the European Pharmaceutical Students’ Association, said:

"Together with its members, EPSA has highlighted the problem that EU Member States struggle to reach a target of 75 % immunisation coverage for seasonal influenza, as recommended by the European Council in 2009. The immunisation coverage for other viruses remains low as well. The good practice from the UK, Ireland and Portugal showed us that it is possible to make a significant improvement. The citizens are very satisfied with the pharmacist-delivered vaccination services, because high quality is ensured and logistical burdens, in terms of arranging an appointment and waiting times, are significantly decreased. EPSA believes that implementing new service, pharmacist-delivered vaccination, will be an important step forward, ensuring higher coverage and meeting the recommendations. As students, we are ready to accept more responsibilities, if this benefits public health and our citizens. We call for decision-makers to implement proven good practice across all Europe to ensure better health for the citizens.”

The European institutions and agencies are widely discussing vaccination. EPSA welcomes the conclusions of the Council of the European Union in December 2014 regarding vaccinations as an effective tool in public health, the recent discussion inside the European Parliament and the European Commission, as well as the work done by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. In that context, EPSA believes it is the time to propose actions, and calls for the implementation of the pharmacist-delivered vaccination service and the appropriate training of the pharmacy workforce. END. Notes to editors: (1) EPSA is an independent, non-profit European organisation, committed to the interests of pharmacy students, and the ultimate benefit of society. EPSA represents over 160.000 pharmacy students in 34 European countries through its 41 member associations. EPSA exists to bring pharmacy, knowledge and students together. www.epsa-online.org (2) The full EPSA Position Paper on pharmacist-delivered vaccination is available here. It was accepted unanimously via an electronic vote of EPSA's member associations in June 2015. (3) Pharmacist-delivered vaccination has already been implemented in numerous countries in Europe, such as the UK (2002), Portugal (2007), Ireland (2011), and also outside Europe, examples being the United States (1995 – generalised in 2009) and Australia (2014). (4) Implementation of the Recommendation on seasonal influenza vaccination (2009/1019/EU) adopted by the European Council in 2009: http://ecdc.europa.eu/en/publications/Publications/Implementation-seasonal-influenzavaccination-Council-Recommendation-Jan-2014.pdf (5) Requests for interviews with an EPSA representative can be made by contacting [email protected].

Press contacts: Svenja Laarhuis EPSA Vice President of Public Relations [email protected]

Anže Vasle EPSA Professional Affairs Coordinator [email protected]

www.epsa-online.org