Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate

On June 25, 2025, Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector Łukasz Pietrzak and Director of the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector’s Office Olga Sierpniowska participated in a meeting of Parliamentary Subcommittee on Oncology (Sejm of Poland).

The Subcommittee considered a report summarising two years of implementation of the national human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination programme, prepared by the Ministers of Health and Education. Representatives of the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate emphasised that greater involvement of pharmacists in the HPV vaccination process could help increase vaccination rates and reduce the burden on the healthcare system.

The Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector explained that pharmacists are currently authorised to administer the HPV vaccine, but only to adults. He noted that during the pandemic, pharmacists had the authority to vaccinate younger patients, starting from the age of 16.

– Introducing pharmacy-based vaccinations from, for example, the age of 14 – or possibly even 12 – would certainly be a significant step, especially as it would not increase the cost of running the system – said Łukasz Pietrzak, referring to ways of increasing access to vaccination. He highlighted the potential of pharmacy vaccination points and called for their more effective use.

Olga Sierpniowska, Director of the Office of the Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector, spoke about leveraging the potential and expertise of pharmacists to reach young people and their parents with information about vaccination.

– Pharmacists are highly accessible healthcare professionals. Patients visit us every day, and these conversations can take place in the pharmacy – explained the Director, pointing to the remarkably high level of trust that pharmacists enjoy in society.

– Health and sex education should be lifelong. It should begin early – at a level appropriate to the recipient’s ability to understand – but adults also need reinforcement and updated information. Advances in medical and pharmaceutical sciences are enormous – noted Director Sierpniowska.

 – A pharmacist can be a highly accessible professional who provides this information, for example, during a pharmaceutical consultation – she added.