ALMOST 50% of all COVID-19 vaccinations in Australia are now being provided through community pharmacies, with a total of more than nine million doses having been administered since they were brought into the rollout in Jul 2021.
New data released by the Department of Health shows the impact pharmacy has had on ensuring the success of the vaccination program, with the percentage of vaccinations being delivered by community pharmacies having risen steadily.
"In August last year, soon after community pharmacies were given the green light to provide the vaccines, the number of Australians receiving their COVID-19 vaccination in a community pharmacy was about 8%," said Trent Twomey, Pharmacy Guild National President.
"Fast forward to late October this year and the data shows that about 47% of Australians were choosing community pharmacies as the place to go to have their vaccinations.
"Even more significantly, the remaining 53% or so of the vaccinations were being delivered collectively through doctors' surgeries, Commonwealth vaccination clinics, Aboriginal Community Health Centres, the Royal Flying Doctor Service and other Commonwealth vaccination facilities," Twomey said.
"With all these other providers making up the balance, it is clear the community pharmacy sector is the largest provider of COVID-19 vaccinations and clearly pharmacies are the provider of choice for Australians," he added.
Twomey said the accessibility of community pharmacies and the trust Australians have in their pharmacists were key reasons that people were choosing to be vaccinated in a pharmacy.
"Community pharmacists are consistently rated among the most trusted health professionals and the fact that 97 per cent of Australians in capital cities live within 2.5km of at least one pharmacy, while in the regional, rural and remote areas of Australia 66 per cent of people are within 2.5km of a pharmacy, means access to that trusted health professional to administer the vaccination is not a problem."
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