No more cupcakes and applause

PHARMACISTS’ calls for “same job, same pay” in rela on to the administra on of COVID‐19 vaccina ons has received support from Federal Shadow Assistant Health Minister, Emma McBride.

Speaking during last night’s Pharmacy Guild of Australia fortnightly update webinar, the pharmacist‐turned‐poli cian said the me, skills and effort of pharmacist immunisers “just hasn’t been properly recognised” under the na onal vaccina on rollout.

“I can’t understand how the Government can jus fy the gap in remunera on [between pharmacists and GPs],” she said.

“It should be ‘same job, same pay’, and pharmacists should be properly recognised for the work that they’re doing, for the skills and experise that pharmacists have.

“There shouldn’t be that disparity between what pharmacists are remunerated [and what GPs are paid].

“Pharmacists have told me [that] some of them are going backwards in order to be able to provide the vaccine... they want to do their bit, but the way that they’re being remunerated is hindering them from doing it.

“I don’t want to see any community pharmacist not join the vaccine rollout, or feel that they can’t con nue to stay in it because of the remunera on ‐ it’s just not right.”

McBride added that the Government needed to go beyond paying lip service to the profession for the work pharmacists do across the board.

“It’s one thing for the Government to say ‘we recognise pharmacists’, or ‘we acknowledge your contribu on’,” she said.

“In properly valuing it, they need to remunerate it, as some people have said to me ‘the me for cupcakes and applause is over’.

“What we really need to see is proper remunera on to really see the value of what pharmacists do.”