COMMUNITY pharmacists are being urged to encourage patients who will not be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine until Phase 2a of the Federal Government's campaign, to have the influenza jab in the coming weeks.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, told Pharmacy Daily that the success of the 2020 flu vaccination program combined with the phased rollout of the COVID-19 immunisation program, "provides a great opportunity for pharmacies to ensure as much of the population [as possible] is protected against the flu whilst they await eligibility and availability of the COVID-19 vaccination".
"We must not let down our guard against the flu which can potentially be serious and life threatening for some patients," he said.
"This will be a unique year with running two mass and large-scale vaccination programs in parallel with one another being seasonal influenza and COVID-19.
"With the nature of the phased rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine for priority patient groups -- the majority of the Australian population is not planned to receive the COVID-19 vaccine any time before Phase 2a/May 2021, so there is an opportunity for patients to get organised and get protected by receiving an annual influenza vaccination in the meantime.
"Also, there have been some reports that some general practices participating in Phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout may receive only 50 doses a week of vaccine, so even when primary healthcare practices do receive it -- not all eligible patients in that community will necessarily be able to receive it immediately."
With a number of pharmacies set to join the COVID-19 vaccination campaign from the start of Phase 2a, the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has stated that "co-administration of the influenza vaccine on the same day as the COVID-19 vaccine is not recommended", and that the vaccinations should be provided "a minimum of 14 days apart".
Meanwhile, the Pharmacy Programs Administrator will provide responses to pharmacies that have applied to take part in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign on Fri.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 17 Mar 21
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 17 Mar 21
