We just want to help COVAX rollout

WESTERN Australian pharmacists are frustrated at having to turn away patients who are eager to have COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX), Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch President, Andrew Ngeow says.

Speaking on The West Australian’s The West Live podcast yesterday, Ngeow said 512 pharmacies across the State have been told they meet the Federal Government’s criteria to become COVAX sites, and legislation has been enacted to allow them to administer the vaccines, but the final green-light has yet to be given. “Everything’s in place,” he said. “We’re ready to go - this pandemic isn’t over [and] we have to get people vaccinated.

“We know there’s no supply issue, because the Australian production line has the capacity for one million doses a week.

“The Commonwealth has already said we can do it, the State legislation is in place, so there’s an ongoing frustration for pharmacists themselves about ‘why can’t we start’?

“We want to help Western Australians do this.

“If we get the 512 pharmacies on board now, we’ll bring forward the rollout by about six months.”

Adding to the sense of frustration, Ngeow said that patients have been coming to his pharmacies on a daily basis asking for the vaccine.

“We’re forced to deny them that access purely and simply because we don’t have the vaccine in stock,” he said.

Ngeow also dismissed concerns over pharmacists’ abilities to manage anaphylaxis, raised by former AMA President and Federal MP, Professor Kerryn Phelps earlier this week (PD 08 Jun).

“As part of the pharmacist’s training they’ve done the full training around anaphylaxis and how to treat it,” he said.

“They do it as part of their accreditation and training to do the influenza vaccine, so it’s the same training with COVAX.”

MEANWHILE, data from a WA vaccine safety surveillance program published in BMJ Open, has shown that patients who received flu vaccines in pharmacies between Mar and Oct 2020 experienced a lower rate of adverse events following immunisation than those who had the jab in other healthcare settings (PD 10 Jun).