School of Pharmacy and Walgreens Host Seasonal Influenza Immunization Event

More than 300 faculty, staff and students from the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus are immunized

By Becky Ceraul
September 23, 2009

Demonstrating pharmacy’s critical role in the distribution and administration of vaccines, the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy and Walgreens immunized more than 300 people against seasonal influenza at a four-hour event on Sept. 21.

Student pharmacists, overseen by School of Pharmacy faculty and Walgreens pharmacists, set up a mobile clinic in the Southern Management Corporation Campus Center and provided the seasonal flu vaccine. The event not only served as an important public health outreach for both the School of Pharmacy and Walgreens, but it provided hands on training for student pharmacists.

“The flu shot clinic is a wonderful means of providing clinical experience for students across all four years of our curriculum,” says Cherokee Layson-Wolf, PharmD, an assistant professor of pharmacy practice and science who coordinated the event. “It gave them an opportunity to see first-hand the administrative and clinical needs that pharmacy-based immunization programs require. And with only 600 pharmacists in Maryland registered to immunize, many more pharmacists need to undergo training to provide this service to their patients.”

“The majority of the public perceives pharmacists as people who dispense drugs,” says Steve Bouyoukas, PharmD, Baltimore Pharmacy Supervisor for Walgreens. “With the advancement of the profession and the advent of the Doctor of Pharmacy degree, we want the public to understand that pharmacists are true health care providers. The immunization event offered these students the chance to implement what they have learned in school and to refine their clinical skills.”

The seasonal flu shot clinic also set the stage for the School of Pharmacy to be able to administer the H1N1 vaccine when it becomes available this fall. “The role of the pharmacist in pandemic preparedness goes beyond immunizations, however,” says Layson-Wolf. “It also encompasses surveillance and helping patients prepare for a potential pandemic.”

To educate more pharmacists about pandemic preparedness, the School of Pharmacy and the Montgomery County Department of Health and Human Services will be holding an influenza pandemic training session on Oct. 3 at the Universities at Shady Grove.