Earlier this week pharmacies across rural and remote NSW reportedly commenced vaccinating their communities against Covid-19.
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) commends these pharmacies taking part in the regional rollout and applauds the Berejiklian Government for committing to maximising pharmacist involvement.
This follows Premier Berejiklian’s announcement last week that a further 1,250 pharmacies will soon be activated across NSW.
PSA NSW Branch President Chelsea Felkai says that this marks an important moment “in the state’s response to Covid-19”.
“We have almost 5,000 skilled, trusted and experienced pharmacist vaccinators across NSW, and when fully activated, they will make a substantial difference to the population’s uptake of the vaccine,” she says.
“Premier Berejiklian has made it clear that we cannot live with the delta variant unless a certain proportion of the population are vaccinated, so we need to make it as easy and convenient as possible for Australians to get vaccinated – and activating all 1,250 approved pharmacies enables this.
“According to a report released by the McKell Institute today, activation of 4,000 community pharmacies would allow Australia to reach its vaccination targets roughly two months faster than at the current rate.
“We are also pleased to see that pharmacists can now vaccinate in NSW regardless of practice setting.
“This means that pharmacists will be able to play a greater role in administering vaccinations in GP clinics, aged care facilities, and vaccination hubs,” says Ms Felkai.
PSA National President Associate Prof Chris Freeman adds that in order for Australia to get on top of this pandemic we need “a unified, patient-centric approach that puts the community first”.
“Pharmacists are the most obvious solution to increasing accessibility of vaccinations. We hope that more jurisdictions will follow NSW’s lead,” he says.
