Attitude and needs of the community pharmacists in Abu-Dhabi Emirate in the United Arab Emirates about administering flu and COVID-19 vaccines: A cross-sectional study

Introduction: A rising number of countries have been enlarging the role of pharmacists to offer vaccination services, which magnified vaccination access and rates. The Department of Health in Abu Dhabi implemented changing the paradigm of community pharmacists’ role in Abu Dhabi to include administering both flu and COVID-19 vaccines to the public. Aims & Objectives: This study aims to explore and assess the needs and attitudes of the community pharmacists in Abu Dhabi about administering flu and COVID-19 vaccines and to explore their perceived challenges and enablers. Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional study design was adopted using a validated questionnaire. Ethical approval was obtained from the Social Research Ethics Committee, UAE University. Simple and multiple binary logistic regression models were used to identify factors associated with the willingness of the respondents to provide vaccine services. IBM SPSS was used for the data analysis. Results: The majority of the respondents were female (58.8%), married (58.9%), non-Emiratis (90.4%), and had more than five years of work experience (53.8%), in which at least one year working in the UAE (80.2%). The majority agreed that pharmacy students must be trained to administer vaccines and it should be part of the curriculum (81.0%). On the other hand, 82.2% of participants doubt the ability of their pharmacies to arrange a space for the administration of the vaccines. Having experience in administering subcutaneous (AOR=4.12, 95% CI=1.06-16.81, P=0.045), and having the belief that students should be trained (AOR=18.88, 95% CI=9.00-39.58, P<0.001) were significantly associated with willingness to administer vaccines after adjusting for confounders. Conclusion: The explored perspectives and needs of the community pharmacists will help stakeholders to have an evidence-based approach and strategy. Addressing the enablers and challenges will streamline the implementation of such initiatives in the seven Emirates of the UAE.