Pharmacy Daily | Should Board record immuniser no’s?

RECORDING pharmacists' immunisation training as part of the profession's annual registration prossion could be useful, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, believes.

Following the publication of the Pharmacy Board of Australia's survey of immunisers, released yesterday, which noted that "at present [the] Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Board do not have any data on the number of pharmacists in Australia who have completed a recognised immunisation training program", Tassone said the profession's vaccination workforce was growing.

"Whilst there is not a centralised real time database that contains the number of trained pharmacist immunisers, what we do know is the total workforce is growing every week and month," he said.

"All across Australia, more pharmacists are answering the call to become trained as an immuniser further growing pharmacy's capacity and role that will be played with mass vaccination programs such as influenza and COVID-19.

"Going forward it would be useful for the Board to collect this information as part of their annual surveying of pharmacists on registration renewal.

"What is even more important though is for state and territory governments to recognise the full scope of practice of pharmacists and include more vaccinations that pharmacist immunisers are authorised to administer to patients so they can get the full benefit of our training and expertise."

The Board's survey received responses from 1,776 pharmacists who indicated that they were undergoing or had completed a recognised immunisation training program, with more than 97% of those pharmacists saying they would be willing to participate in the COVID-19 vaccination program.

Meanwhile the Board has noted that pharmacists who returned to the profession via AHPRA's pandemic sub-register will need to apply for general registration by 05 Apr, through a transitional pathway, if they wish to be available to support the COVID-19 vaccination program.

Eligible pharmacists who moved from non-practising registration to the sub-register will be automatically returned to non-practicing registration on 06 Apr.