Pharmacies urged to join COVAX push

AUSTRALIAN community pharmacies that have yet to join the national COVID-19 vaccination (COVAX) rollout are being urged to register to participate to demonstrate the sector’s capacity.

Speaking during a webinar on Wed night, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, noted 3,730 pharmacies have registered with the Pharmacy Programs Administrator (PPA) to date, with a further 40 waiting to be on-boarded.

“I’d love to hit that 4,000 [pharmacies participating] mark by the end of the calendar year,” he said.

“The reason for that isn’t just to round it out nicely... we really do, as a profession, need to have the broadest level of access as we move into the booster program.”

Twomey noted that community pharmacies have administered more than 1.3 million doses of COVAX to date.

“That’s a combination of AstraZeneca - nearly 930,000 doses - and Moderna - at just a tick over 4,000,” he said.

“The Guild’s modelling had that we will most definitely hit at least one million vaccines of each of these two varients.

“So keep up the good work.” MEANWHILE, Twomey also highlighted the successful launch of the Far North Queensland COVID-19 School Vaccination Program.

He added that pharmacies can access federal funding to provide similar COVAX outreach services.

However, he noted that all jurisdictions, excluding Tasmania had implemented legislation to authorise pharmacies to conduct such services.