AVALIABILTY AND STORAGE OF VACCINES IN COMMUNITY PHARMACIES IN ENUGU TOWN.

INTRODUCTION: A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. Vaccines can be prophylactic or therapeutic. The administration of vaccines is called vaccination. Vaccination is the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases. OBJECTIVES:To access the availability and storage of vaccines in community pharmacies in Enugu Town METHOD:This was a cross-sectional study and simple random sampling technique was used. 70 copies of questionnaire were administered and presented to the respondents to get data on the availability and storage of vaccines in community pharmacies within Enugu Town and were completely retrieved. The data gotten from the questionnaire was recorded and entered into SPSS Version 21 spreadsheet for analysis which was presented in frequency and percentage. RESULT:Among the 70 community pharmacy within Enugu Town showed a 92.1% respondent rate and based on the frequency distribution of the respondents demographic data revealed that there are more female pharmacists 38(54.3%) than male pharmacist 32(45.7%) within the community pharmacy in Enugu town, based on the frequency distribution on availability of vaccines showed that a good number 52 (74.3%) of community pharmacy within Enugu town store and sell vaccine, while a 12(17.1%) always supply vaccines. Based on the frequency distribution on storage of vaccines revealed a positive outcome to the knowledge on the use of cold chain management (CCM) system. CONCLUSION:the study revealed a positive perception towards the availability and storage of vaccine with community pharmacies in Enugu Town. However, vaccinations are a vital component of preventive healthcare on both the individual and population level and as such healthcare professionals (pharmacists), it is our duty to protect the public by preventing immunization related errors by exercising vaccine vigilance.