The Australian Pharmacy Council drafted the ‘Standards for the Accreditation of Programs to Support
Pharmacist Administration of Vaccines 2014’ (the Standards) which were released for public consultation in
July 2014.

The Standards aim to define measurable attributes that vaccinations programs must demonstrate. They are
the Standards against which activities may be assessed to ensure:   
*  pharmacists receive complete and current education and training to a defined Standard in this area
of practice; and
*  the assessment of each pharmacist’s competence is valid, reliable, flexible and fair.
 
The public consultation gathered feedback on the draft Standards as well as proposed processes for the
quality assurance of vaccination training programs for pharmacists.

As a result of the public consultation, the Standards were finalised and it was determined that the best
process for accreditation would be via the established CPD accreditation process, including all established
monitoring requirements.
These Standards will be provided to the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accrediting organisations for their use in the CPD activity accreditation process.  

The Pharmacy Board of Australia (PharmBA) was consulted with regard to the APC’s approach to the
accreditation of vaccination training programs for pharmacists. The PharmBA has advised that it ‘supports
the application of the Standards as a suitable pathway for accreditation of vaccination training programs
for pharmacists’.  
 
The Standards for the Accreditation of Programs to support pharmacist administration of Vaccines
document can be found at:
http://pharmacycouncil.org.au/content/assets/files/Publications/Immunisation%20Accreditation%20stand
ards%20-%20Final.pdf  
 
Bronwyn Clark
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Pharmacy Council
7 November 2014