Table 1.

Vaccination against COVID-19 infection in different European countries and involvement of pharmacy services: legal framework, management, provision of vaccination

	Country
	Belgum	Croatia	Czech Republic	Germany	Italy	Netherlands	Portugal	Ireland	Serbia	Switzerland	Spain	Turkey	UK
COVID-19 vaccination: legal framework, management, pharmacy services
Legal framework allows vaccinating by
Physicians	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Nurses (under legal responsibility of a physician)	×	×	×	×	×	×			×	×	×	×	×
Nurses independently							×	×					×
Pharmacists (under legal responsibility of a physician)													×
Pharmacists independently				(×) pilots	(×) pilots		×	×		×^d			×
Vaccines approved for clinical use in a particular country (considering decision of country-specific regulatory drug institutes by mid of April 2021)
Pfizer/BioNTech	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Moderna	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×		×	×		×
Astra Zeneca	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×		×		×
Johnson&Johnson	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×		×	×		×
Sputnik V									×
Sinovac												×
Sinopharm									×
Management of vaccination
Central (usually registration at the Ministry of Health website)	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×^a	×	×	×	×	×
Different in Federal States/Cantons	×			×	×					×			×
Managed also by individual/group orders at local vacccination centres			×						×		×		×
Vaccination provided where
Large regional hospitals	×		×	×	×	×	×	×		×	×	×	×
Nursing home facilities, homes for seniors	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Primary health care centres, GP ambulances		×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×
Large community centres such as football stadiums, fair trade centres etc.^b	×	×	×	×	×	×		×	×		×		×
Patients´ own homes (home visits by GPs)	×		×	× (pilot)	×	×	×	×				×	×
Community pharmacies	× (pilot planned)				×			×		×			×
Community pharmacies/pharmacists - services related to COVID-19 vaccination
Administration of vaccines	× (pilot planned)							×		×	×		×
Supply of vaccines to vaccination centres													×
The storage and stock management of vaccines	× (pilot planned)				× (pilot)								×
Preparation (disolution) of vaccines for vaccination centres						×							×
Disolution of vaccines directly at vaccination centres	×				× (pilot)	×							×
Standard practices, safety warnings, dissemination of updates on vaccination procedures etc. (for healthcare professionals at vaccination centres)	×					×	×						×
Counselling (including online counselling) for patients	×	×	×		×	×	×	×		×	×	×	×
Pharmacovigilance activities	×	×	×		×	×	×	×	×	×	×		×
Monitoring and periodic administrative reports	×						×	×					×
Hospital pharmacies/pharmacists - services related to COVID-19 vaccination
Administration of vacccines													×
Management of supply of vaccines to vaccination centres	×		×		×	×	×	×		×	×		×
Storage and stock management of vaccines	×		×	×	×	×	×	×		×	×		×
Preparation (disolution) of vaccines and their delivery to vaccination centres			×	×	×	×	×	×			×		×
Helps with disolution of vaccines directly at vaccination centres			×	×		×	×			×^c			×
Standard practices, safety warnings, dissemination of updates on vaccination procedures etc. (for healthcare professional, hospital wards)	×		×	×	×	×	×	×		×			×
Counselling (including online counselling) for patients			×		×	×	×	×			×		×
Pharmacovigilance activities	×	×	×		×	×	×	×		×	×		×
Monitoring and periodic adminstrationreports			×		×		×			×	×		×
Remuneration of vaccines
Vaccines fully covered from health insurance/by government for prioritized groups	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×	×

Information correct as of June 2021

UK United Kingdom

^aFor priority groups registration is not needed

^bThere are substantial differences among countries which places are used for provision of COVID-19 vaccination: e.g. in Germany also ice skating rinks, former military barracks, university halls, exhibition halls etc.; in the Czech Republic only one Open Trade Fair centre was established as a vaccination centre under managementof regional hospital; in Netherlands also large conference centres are used etc.

^c,dIn some Cantons