Pharmacy technicians have been visiting schools on the Isle of Wight to administer nasal flu vaccinations to children aged four to 11 years in a new trial from Boots UK.
 
While pharmacists usually administer pharmacy-delivered vaccination services, this initiative saw specially trained pharmacy technicians administer the vaccines, which had been prescribed by a Boots independent prescriber using a Patient Specific Direction.

Pharmacy technicians Sharon Bunch and Hannah Hine led the trial, supported by pharmacist and independent prescriber, Krupa Patel. During the six-week pilot, they delivered over 4,250 vaccinations.
  
Commenting on the trial, Marc Donovan, chief pharmacist at Boots UK, said: “I’d like to get to a future where pharmacy technicians can consistently offer a deeper level of care to our patients and this was a great opportunity to demonstrate the power of the whole pharmacy team.”
 
Sharon Bunch added: “It was an amazing opportunity for us to be able to offer this service and be a pioneer for the industry. It was a great chance for us to show what we can do, and to know that we were the first two people to do this makes me very proud. It shows that pharmacy technicians can step up and take on responsibilities that are outside of our day-to-day roles.”