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Olivier Picard, board member of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA), has said that community pharmacy has the ability to “unleash the potential” of vaccines to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Speaking during a panel discussion following the University College London, NPA and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) annual lecture, which was held at the Royal Society in London on 15 January 2025, Picard said that there was potential for all vaccines to be delivered in pharmacy within five years, with support and investment.
His comments came in response to the lecture delivered by Calman MacLennan, vice president of vaccine clinical research and development at Pfizer and professor of vaccine immunology at the University of Birmingham, who discussed the potential of vaccines in addressing AMR.
MacLennan noted that vaccine resistance is rare because vaccines are prophylactic in nature and act against multiple targets on a pathogen. However, he added that the role of vaccines in AMR has not always been widely covered in the media.
He also told delegates that vaccines play an important role in AMR by reducing antibiotic use and reducing drug-resistant infections, adding that action is needed to expand the use of existing vaccines, as well as to develop new vaccines, and more data collection is needed to quantify the impact of vaccines in AMR.
Picard responded that when community pharmacy gets involved with vaccine delivery, the uptake of vaccines increases because “we have a rapport with our patients”.
He added that with the right support and investment in community pharmacy, “we can unleash the potential” of vaccines against AMR.
In September 2024, study results published in The Lancet estimated that antibiotic-resistant infections could cause more than 39 million deaths globally between now and 2050.
The government published a policy paper in May 2024 — entitled ‘Confronting antimicrobial resistance 2024 to 2029‘ — calling on the life sciences sector to prioritise the development of vaccines to prevent infections, as well as the development of new antimicrobials.
The World Health Organization’s 2021 action framework, published in January 2021, also set a goal to expand and share knowledge of vaccine impact on AMR.
Labour MP Zubir Ahmed, a vascular surgeon and chair of the panel discussion, said that government “really value the input of pharmacies”.
