Innovative partnership in Connecticut to expand health professional eligibility to administer COVID-19 vaccines

Background: On December 7, 2020, the Acting Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) issued an order authorizing eligible health professionals to administer coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines provided they complete a vaccination training program. The University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Pharmacy was approached to collaborate with DPH to create a certification program to meet the needs of this order. Objectives: To use a unique, pharmacist-led practice model to increase the number of competent vaccinators to administer the COVID-19 vaccine and to reduce vaccine hesitancy with timely vaccine information. Practice description: A didactic and in-person training program was developed, with an evaluation completed by a vaccination-certified pharmacist. In addition, faculty members, staff, and students developed short videos answering questions about COVID-19 vaccines. Practice innovation: We are aware of no other such programs using pharmacists and student pharmacists as primary creators of training and certification of health professionals to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. Evaluation methods: Success was gauged by the rapid increase in the number of eligible health professionals who completed the developed training program and became certified as COVID19 vaccinators. When addressing vaccine hesitancy, success was defined by the number of videos created and the number of views and likes the videos received. Results: As of April 30, 2021, 1834 health professionals registered to administer the COVID-19 vaccine. A total of 1195 (65%) participants completed the online training developed by pharmacists, and 872 participants (48%) attended pharmacist-led, in-person competencies. As of July 29, 2021, efforts resulted in 14,972 views and 257 "Likes" for 79 videos promoted through social media platforms. Conclusion: A partnership between the Connecticut DPH and the UConn School of Pharmacy allowed the rapid increase in capacity to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to citizens of Connecticut. Patients are receptive to accessing health information that pharmacists create on social media. (C) 2022 American Pharmacists Association (R). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.