National Immunization Awareness Month Is Here

August marks National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM), a perfect time for pharmacists to provide vaccine education.¹ This includes ensuring adults are current on immunizations and combating vaccine misinformation. Pharmacists play a vital role in educating adults about vaccines through medication therapy management (MTM).

Image credit: Andrii Zastrozhnov | stock.adobe.com

MTM and Immunizations

Recommending and administering vaccines is a critical part of MTM that can be done through MTM consults and community-wide vaccine programs. Additionally, pharmacists can post vaccine education through social media posts as a public health initiative for NIAM.

One study evaluated a pharmacist-led telephonic MTM lifestyle and wellness program for underserved patients in rural Arizona with diabetes and/or hypertension.² Pharmacists conducted comprehensive medication reviews (CMRs) on prescription and OTC medications to improve 93 patients’ pharmacotherapy regimens. Pharmacists also inquired about patients’ vaccine status during the CMR to ensure they were current on immunizations.² Vaccine counseling was one of the most common recommendations made in the study, with 70 individual recommendations given.² The recommended vaccines included pneumonia (45%), influenza (37%), COVID-19 (29%), and shingles (24%).²

Only 19% of vaccine recommendations were accepted by the primary care provider.² This study highlights the importance of educating patients and health care professionals about immunizations.

In light of global measles outbreaks, ensuring patients are current on their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine is critical. As of July 22, 2025, there have been 1319 measles cases reported in the US.³ Pharmacists can provide education and administer MMR vaccines to prevent the spread of measles. The CDC updated its guidance for international travelers in May 2025 with stronger language, urging that all adult international travelers receive 2 doses of the MMR vaccine separated by at least 28 days unless they have written documentation of measles immunity.⁴

Documentation of measles immunity must include at least 1 of the following criteria⁴:

• Written documentation of 2 doses of the MMR vaccine
• Laboratory evidence of immunity
• Laboratory confirmation of previous measles infection
• Birth in the US before 1957

Pharmacists can counter vaccine misinformation and help increase immunization acceptance during NIAM. Motivational interviewing is an effective way to identify patients’ concerns and knowledge gaps about vaccines through open conversations.⁵ For instance, one strategy includes a 4-step approach, as follows⁵:

• Engage and establish trust: Create a safe place for patients to discuss their vaccine concerns.
• Understand their views: Pharmacists should identify what matters most to the patient about vaccines.
• Offer information: Pharmacists can use the ask-offer-ask method, which involves first asking patients what they know or believe about vaccines. Then, pharmacists can offer information that counters any vaccine misinformation. The final step is asking patients about their thoughts regarding the new information and whether it changes their motivation for immunizations.
• Clarify and accept their decision: This step involves respecting the patient’s autonomy. If the patient is ready for the vaccine, the pharmacist can make an action plan for the immunization.

One study evaluated the impact of the Motivational Interviewing Tool to Improve Vaccine Acceptance (MOTIVE) on pharmacists’ management of vaccine hesitancy.⁶ Eight Midwestern pharmacy practices completed the MOTIVE training, with tools addressing influenza (adult and pediatric), COVID-19 (adult and pediatric), and shingles (adult) immunizations. Additionally, MOTIVE included tools for the pediatric immunization series. Pharmacists, pharmacy interns, and technicians who interacted with patients about vaccines received training through an online continuing education program. Monthly educational updates were provided with the latest information on immunizations.⁶

There were a total of 362 encounters with patients expressing vaccine hesitancy.⁶ The most common reasons for vaccine hesitancy were safety (39%), coordination of care (31.5%), and efficacy concerns (30.4%). After the pharmacist encounter, 35.4% of patients received vaccines, and 26% planned to. Additionally, 25.1% of patients considered receiving an immunization in the future.⁶

Additionally, 13.5% of patients reported not being interested in receiving the vaccine.

REFERENCES

1. National Immunization Awareness Month (NIAM). CDC. August 29, 2024. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/php/nationalimmunization-awareness-month/index.html

2. Axon DR, Eckert B, Leon T, et al. Medication therapy management lifestyle and wellness program for patients in rural Arizona. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2025;65(2):102324. doi:10.1016/j.japh.2025.102324

3. Measles cases and outbreaks. CDC. Updated July 16, 2025. Accessed July 16, 2025. https://www.cdc.gov/measles/data-research/index.html

4. Global measles. CDC. Updated May 28, 2025. Accessed July 14, 2025. https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/notices/level1/measles-globe

5. Gagneur A, Gutnick D, Berthiaume P, Diana A, Rollnick S, Saha P. From vaccine hesitancy to vaccine motivation: a motivational interviewing based approach to vaccine counselling. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2024;20(1):2391625. doi:10.1080/21645515.2024.2391625

6. Chen AMH, Anthony A, Balogun A, Pereira R, Cole JW. The impact of motivational interviewing and MOTIVE tool use by pharmacists on vaccine acceptance. Pharmacy (Basel). 2024;12(4):114. doi:10.3390/pharmacy12040114