IMA Matters

Vaccines which are indicated as ‘recommended’ or ‘to be considered’ in the knowmalaria app

Travel-trained pharmacists will be aware that the knowmalaria app uses the traveller’s details and individual risks selected by the traveller to provide guidance for the pharmacist’s conversation about which vaccines they might choose to receive. It is important to understand that if a vaccine is ‘recommended’ this might be because of an International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP) requirement or an additional risk factor, such as long-term travel. If the vaccine is ‘to be considered’, the pharmacist and traveller should have a discussion about the risks of the disease in the country to which they will be travelling and the traveller’s particular risk(s). For example, although a traveller may not require a yellow fever ICVP to enter a particular country, the risk of the disease should be considered separately and involve identifying whether the traveller is going to a yellow fever risk area of the country. In such a case, the vaccine would then become ‘recommended’ on the basis of the risk of the disease. The text on the knowmalaria app screen should be followed to help the traveller make an informed choice about protection for their trip.

Travel Service – Vaccine selection

Once the traveller has decided which vaccine(s) they require for their trip, one or more of these may be administered during the initial or subsequent appointment(s). On each occasion, once the vaccine(s) to be administered has been confirmed with the traveller and confirmed in the knowmalaria app, the document ‘Confirm selection for traveller ID {xxxx}’  should be printed and used in the dispensary as a reference for vaccine selection and accuracy checking. The document should be signed by both the person selecting the vaccine(s) and the person performing the accuracy check, and then retained securely in the store for six months, after which time it should be disposed of as confidential waste. Please note: the retention period for this document will be included in the next update of the Pharmacy Document Retention Guidance.