PHARMACY owners should not be in a rush to purchase freezers to store the promising Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine at this stage, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, believes.
With the candidate vaccine requiring storage at minus 70C, Tassone called on State and Federal Governments to provide assistance to primary care providers, including pharmacists and GPs to ensure they have access to appropriate cold chain facilities.
"The anticipated potential required storage requirements of the COVID-19 vaccine needing to be below 0C will be a challenge for the healthcare system broadly to address whether it be community pharmacies, general practice, local government or other tertiary healthcare institutions," he said.
"Pharmacies should not be rushing to purchase freezers in anticipation of the COVID vaccine until it is confirmed what are the exact required storage requirements for the vaccines that are distributed for the Australian population, and what pharmacy's role will be in that mass vaccination program."
"Both State and Federal Governments have a role to play in providing support to the healthcare system to equip them with the necessary capability of storing this vaccine according to its requirements -- where no other medication or vaccine that is usually handled in the primary healthcare system requires this.
"The Guild is in close and ongoing discussions with the Federal Government about the role that pharmacists and community pharmacy can and will play in the roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine from next year."
Former Pharmaceutical Society of Australia President, Shane Jackson, told Pharmacy Daily that given the uncertainty about timeframe and distribution logistics he "wouldn't be suggesting that community pharmacies need to upgrade their fridges at this point in time".
"Community pharmacy is in a similar position to general practice, and at this stage we need to ensure that we are coordinating efforts that are aligned with the national response," he said.
"One would suggest that community pharmacy needs to be included in the distribution considerations.
"If there are special requirements above that which are normally required, there would be an expectation that government would support this distribution and any special requirements associated with it."
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