Trust, influence, and community: Why pharmacists and pharmacies are central for addressing vaccine hesitancy.

ABSTRACT

In 2019, the World Health Organization listed vaccine hesitancy, defined as the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate against preventable infectious diseases, as one of the top ten threats to global health. To address hesitancy, we must focus our attention on building vaccine confidence, trust in the vaccine itself, in providers who administer vaccines, and in the process that leads to vaccine licensure and the recommended vaccination schedule. Building vaccine confidence, particularly in communities that have higher levels of distrust of vaccines and low vaccination coverage rates, is a critical public health priority, particularly in the current climate as the United States and the global public health community grapple with the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. In this commentary, we focus on the central role that pharmacists play in promoting the health and wellness of the local communities in which they are embedded, how they are one of the most trusted sources for their communities when it comes to health information and care, and their unique position in making a profound contribution to building vaccine confidence. We propose to arm all health professionals with a tool, the ASPIRE framework, which serves as a series of actionable steps to facilitate conversations with communities. This framework is intended to assist pharmacists in communicating with community members who may have concerns about vaccines by sharing trustworthy health information about vaccines to increase vaccine adoption. We conclude that it is insufficient to merely relay accurate health information about vaccines to the public and expect dramatic increases to vaccination rates. Accurate health information needs to be conveyed by trusted sources. Open engagement and dialogue layered on top of fundamental facts and messages are central to building confidence. Pharmacists and other providers can use tools such as ASPIRE to guide their conversations with community members to increase vaccine adoption.