QPIP vax trial extended
July 10, 2014
THE Queensland Pharmacist
Immunisation Pilot (QPIP) (PD 12
May) has been extended to cover
vaccinations for measles and
whooping cough for adults, as well
as a second flu season in 2015.
The announcement was made by
the Queensland government (PD
breaking news yesterday), with
the extension complemented by a
state-wide marketing campaign to
increase uptake of funded vaccines,
Premier Campbell Newman said.
Health Minister Lawrence
Springborg said the extension
would be limited to adults with the
same QPIP protections applied to
influenza vaccinations.
The trial, jointly run by the
Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
(PSA), has seen more than 10,000
influenza immunisations since it
started in April (PD 02 Apr), with a
report expected in October 2014.
A report on the extension would
likely be available in September or
October 2015 and flu vaccinations
for this year would likely tail off
around early September, PSA
Queensland president Professor
Lisa Nissen said.
Nissen said there was a projected
start date of September for
providing the new vaccinations.
No changes would need to
be made to the training for
pharmacists, who had been trained
to give vaccinations broadly.
Roughly half of the vaccinations
given in the pilot had been to
people who had never been, or
were not regularly, immunised
against influenza, Nissen said.
Pharmacy Guild Queensland
president Tim Logan said
accessibility was a major factor in
the high uptake during the pilot
and had resulted in it capturing a
cohort of the population who might
not normally get vaccinated.
Australian Medical Association
(AMA) Council of General Practice
chair Dr Brian Morton said the
AMA’s concerns regarding the pilot
were still present and that there
needed to be better evidence
about accessibility.
Half a day of training was not
sufficient to reassure doctors
that pharmacists could handle
an adverse reaction such as
anaphylaxis and there were
concerns about communication of
vaccination between pharmacy and
GP, as well as privacy, such as of
appointment booking, he said.
A GP knew a patient’s history and
could determine contra-indications
and necessity of vaccination;
patient and community safety
needed to be concentrated on, he
said.
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