At the 72nd Indian Pharmaceutical Congress, Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) announced a program to train pharmacists as vaccinators.

 They will be certified by IPA and WHO after an online training for 15 days followed by 15 days offline training at registered hospitals. 

In remote villages, where dispensaries and nurses are rare to find, medicine shops being always available can help reduce the burden of vaccination on doctors, nurses and paramedical staff, particularly to fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Pharmacists will be able to act as counsellors to patients on immunisation and also earn additional revenue.