2023 Incentive Grant Recipient: Jessica Edgar, PharmD
Project Proposal: Identifying Pharmacist Reported Barriers to the Administration of Childhood Vaccines
Jessica L. Edgar, PharmD currently serves as the PGY1 Community-based Pharmacy Resident at Palm Beach Atlantic University/Atlantis Pharmacy in West Palm Beach, Florida.
"Atlantis Pharmacy is an independent pharmacy that has been administering vaccines to adults for nearly a decade. The PREP Act allowed us to begin vaccinating children but, even with adequate staffing, our site encountered challenges to administering childhood vaccines. This study will help us to collectively determine what community-based pharmacists perceive as barriers to vaccinating children. Responses can be used to create a targeted educational tool to equip pharmacists to administer childhood vaccines."
"This funding will help to identify barriers to childhood vaccine administration and create a tool to better prepare pharmacists at their practice sites. Pharmacists are widely accessible to the public. Expanding our expertise will benefit patients in need. Community pharmacists are ideally positioned to be on the front lines of preventative health, for children and adults."
“I am blessed to have been chosen to receive an APhA Foundation Incentive Grant this year. I am thrilled to investigate this topic as vaccinations are an important service that are offered at most community pharmacies that allow pharmacists an opportunity to bridge the gaps in preventative healthcare.”