Commencing late July, an additional 82 community pharmacies in Queensland will begin offering free Covid-19 vaccinations to members of the community.
Additionally, a further 186 community pharmacies, that are already approved through the Federal Government’s EOI Process, will also join the State’s Covid-19 vaccination rollout, beginning in August.
According to Chris Owen, Acting President of The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch, these additional pharmacies are in outer-metro, rural and regional areas of Queensland, and will join the 49 community pharmacies already vaccinating against Covid-19.
Mr Owen says that while this comes as good news for Queensland’s Covid-19 vaccine rollout efforts, “more needs to be done”.
“There’s no reason for the other 521 community pharmacies in Queensland that have already been assess as suitable by the Commonwealth not to be included in the rollout immediately,” says Mr Owen.
“Given the need to vaccinate as many Queenslanders as quickly as possible … it is imperative that these community pharmacies are brought online, not only in rural and remote areas of the State but also within the urban centres.”
Mr Owen calls on the “Commonwealth to immediately activate the remaining 521 community pharmacies in metro areas”.
“If we activate those community pharmacies now, more Queenslanders will have access to Covid-19 vaccinations when more stock becomes available in September and October.”
