Bhekti Pratiwi
The Role of Agent of Change (AoC) Pharmacists in Supporting the Covid-19 Vaccine ProgramBhekti Pratiwi, Irianti Bahana, Nur Azizah Fitria, and Nadila Nivio School of Pharmacy, Institut Teknologi Bandung*Corresponding author: Bhekti Pratiwi; bhekti@fa.itb.ac.idABSTRACTBackground: The Covid-19 pandemic has attacked Indonesia since 2020. One of the efforts that can be done to end the pandemic is vaccination. Vaccination can be successful if all Indonesian people are willing to be vaccinated. Comprehensive education regarding Covid-19 and vaccines is needed to increase people's acceptance. The Agent of Change (AoC) Pharmacists that existed in the GEMA CERMAT programme can carry out this education.Objective: The aim was to assess the role of education by pharmacists in increasing public knowledge about the Covid-19 vaccine.Method: The study was conducted concurrently with a briefing to pharmacists. Then, education was carried out by the community in their work area online or offline. Educational media include brochures and pocketbooks. Education begins with a pre-test and ends with a post-test. The meaningfulness of knowledge was carried out based on pre and post-test scores and a description of attitudes seen from filling out the questionnaire.Results: A total of 20 pharmacists and 73 communities were involved in the study. Of the total educated people, 51 (69.86%) experienced an increase in knowledge, 15 (20.55%) remained, and 7 (9.59%) decreased. Based on the dependent t-test, the mean value of the pre-post test was significantly different, with p<0.000. After being given education, as many as 92% of people who have not been vaccinated are willing to be vaccinated.Conclusion: The educational pharmacists make a significant difference in increasing knowledge about vaccines so that education can continue to be carried out to make the Covid-19 vaccine program a success.Keywords: Covid-19, vaccine, education, pharmacist
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1. The community gets trusted information about Covid-19 vaccination 2. Pharmacists play an active role in the Covid-19 vaccination process especially in terms of opening community insight 3. The establishment of cooperation between ITB and AOC pharmacists so it will be easier to carry out cooperation again