As vaccination rates in Ontario continue to fall to dangerously low levels, patients need faster, easier access to immunization services to better protect themselves against preventable illnesses.

In addition to growing vaccine hesitancy, research shows that lack of access is the second most frequently reported barrier to vaccination in Canadian adults and recent immigrants. 

When patients face barriers to vaccination, it causes a chain reaction of negative consequences. Poor access contributes to lower uptake and puts those who are not vaccinated at greater risk of serious vaccine-preventable illness, including long-term complications, hospitalizations and life-threatening diseases like cancer. It can also contribute to a resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, which is once again circulating so broadly that Canada had its measles elimination status revoked last fall. As more people fall ill from vaccine-preventable diseases, it puts greater demand on our health care system which is already strained by high demand and limited resources.

As Ontario looks for innovative ways to reduce health care strain and improve patient care, Ontario’s community pharmacists are able to help improve vaccine access and slow the decline of immunization rates.

The Ontario Pharmacists Association (OPA) recently released a Vaccine Access Action Plan recommending strategies to overcome regulatory, policy, financial, operational and public awareness barriers that make it challenging for Ontario patients to get the vaccines they need to protect their health. The plan outlines more than two dozen actionable recommendations to expand vaccine access across the province with a focus on community pharmacy-based solutions.

For example, while pharmacists in Ontario can easily administer vaccines in the community pharmacy setting, they cannot prescribe them. Patients cannot access most vaccines without a prescription. In many cases a prescription is also required for the vaccine to be billed to a patient’s private insurance plan. Ontario is one of only two Canadian provinces that do not allow pharmacists to prescribe vaccines. This regulatory roadblock makes it more complicated and time-consuming for patients to get vaccinated. OPA’s action plan recommends that Ontario’s government follow suit with most of its provincial counterparts and grant pharmacists authority to prescribe vaccines. 

Without this change, patients in Ontario need to get prescriptions from physicians or other authorized prescribers before they can have certain vaccines administered by pharmacists. Considering the chronic shortage of family doctors and access to primary care across the province, this unnecessary obstacle plays a significant role in declining vaccination rates. Requiring two separate appointments (one to obtain the prescription, the other to receive the injection) represents a significant time, travel and access burden for patients.

Ontario pharmacists have long been trusted as frontline health care professionals, playing a critical role in public immunization efforts to fight illnesses like COVID-19 and flu, and they’re willing and able to take on more. Allowing them to prescribe vaccines would significantly increase access and better protect patients against serious, preventable illnesses.

Many patients across the province turn to community pharmacists as a first line of support for many of their health needs. Nine in 10 Ontarians live within five kilometres of a community pharmacy, creating convenient access to care close to home. Many pharmacies offer extended hours during evenings, weekends, and holidays, as well as same- or next-day appointments, which further improves access.

In addition to the call for prescribing authority, the OPA’s action plan also calls for a broad range of other actions to help improve access, such as:

• Eliminating the use of a list-based approach to scope of practice and enabling pharmacists to administer all available vaccines;
• Enabling community pharmacies to provide all publicly funded vaccines;
• Supporting initiatives that expand labour capacity in community pharmacies such as enabling pharmacy technicians to administer additional vaccines;
• Creating and using a provincial immunization registry that tracks records for all patients for vaccines administered in all settings;
• Increasing public awareness to better educate Ontarians about vaccines available through pharmacies and combat misinformation that erodes trust in vaccines; and
• Establishing fair and reasonable publicly or privately funded remuneration for pharmacy vaccine services

As highlighted in Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer of Health’s 2024 Annual Report, Protecting Tomorrow: The Future of Immunization in Ontario, addressing inconsistencies in access through community-led strategies is a key strategy to strengthen Ontario’s immunization programs. 

Community pharmacy professionals are uniquely positioned to support this work. With their expertise, accessibility and proven track record, they are ready to play an even larger role in Ontario’s vaccination strategy, serving as trusted, convenient immunization hubs that strengthen public health efforts and ensure that every Ontarian can access timely protection close to home.

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