Immunization Insights

Thornton Receives APhA's Wiederholt Prize for Best Published Paper Award

March 18 — Since the first vaccine was introduced two centuries ago to eliminate smallpox, some degree of hesitancy has been associated with immunization efforts.

For some parents, the setting – and administering practitioner – for childhood immunizations matters, according to a study led by University of Houston College of Pharmacy (UHCOP) Associate Professor and Director of The PREMIER Center Douglas Thornton, Pharm.D., Ph.D. While Thornton and his collaborators found that more than half of parents surveyed had a high intention to vaccinate their children between the ages of 3 and 10 in a community pharmacy, approximately one-third of the respondents also expressed concern that pediatric vaccination in pharmacies were less safe than other care settings.

If parents believed that pharmacists were good health care providers, they more likely intended to have their children vaccinated at the community pharmacy. In past surveys, parental concerns regarding pharmacy immunization training have been identified as barriers.

"As a pharmacy profession, thats good information to know," Thornton said. "What is keeping people from embracing pharmacists as a method of receiving vaccines for their children?"

The study, which was published in the March-April 2023 issue of the Journal of the American Pharmacists Association, has been selected to receive the 2025 American Pharmacists Association's Wiederholt Prize For Best Published Paper Award For Economic, Social And Administrative Sciences (ESAS). Thornton and the paper's coauthors will be presented with the award during the APhA Annual Meeting & Exposition March 21-24 in Nashville, Tenn.

The paper, "Parents' intention to have their child vaccinated at a community pharmacy: a national cross-sectional survey," assesses why parents feel more comfortable or less comfortable having their child vaccinated in a community pharmacy setting.

The survey idea was born in the class of fellow UHCOP faculty member Sujit Sansgiry, M.S., Ph.D., along with his former Ph.D. student Callie Downs, Pharm.D. ('20). Thornton and team turned the idea into reality and began collecting data at the height of COVID-19 as policies were put into place to make vaccinations more accessible.

Thornton said he views this paper as critical to understanding the role of pharmacists in health care.

"This is a strong methodologic paper but also directly provides insights into an important public health topic that APhA needs to know about," Thornton said. "There is a direct patient care angle, a direct financial angle."

First author on the paper is Tyler Varisco, Pharm.D., Ph.D. ('21), assistant professor of pharmaceutical health outcomes and policy. Co-authors include Downs; Randa Al Saadi, Pharm.D. ('21), former post-doctoral research fellow at The PREMIER Center; and Tessa Hastings, Ph.D., assistant professor of clinical pharmacy and outcomes sciences at the University of South Carolina College of Pharmacy.

"It's important for pharmacists delivering care in a community setting to make patients feel safe and welcome," Thornton said.

The "Best Paper Award" marks the second consecutive year that Thornton has been recognized by the APhA. In 2024, he received the organization's Generation Rx Award for his work on opioid misuse disorder prevention and reduction.