DELAYS in approving community pharmacies as COVID-19 vaccination (COVAX) sites are failing Australians, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Western Australian Branch President, Andrew Ngeow, believes.
With Perth going into lockdown over the weekend, Ngeow voiced criticism of the Federal Government's COVAX rollout, noting that National Cabinet meetings had focused on yet to be established mass vaccination centres, while ignoring the role the existing community pharmacy network can play.
Ngeow added that pharmacists were trained and ready to join the COVAX campaign immediately, to support an accelerated rollout alongside GPs and nurses.
"We are baffled by the dismissive attitude to use of community pharmacy and dismayed by the slow and bureaucratic approach to the vaccine roll-out, which has plunged the Anzac Day plans of all Western Australians into disarray and put the safety of West Australians at risk," he said.
"Isolation quarantine, whilst necessary, is only a part of the solution.
"The real and much larger priority for Western Australians is in their access to vaccination.
"We are calling on the Commonwealth Government to expedite its plans and ensure that community pharmacy is immediately brought on board to enable this."
Ngeow noted that the WA Government has been "extremely supportive of the involvement of community pharmacy", but the Federal Government needed to give the green light for vaccines to be distributed to pharmacies.
"It is befuddling that there is any resistance to accessing this resource," he said.
"There are supplies of the COVAX in WA which could be administered through community pharmacy right now.
"There is simply no good reason not to immediately allow this to happen, [there will] only be more disruptions, costs and negative health outcomes should this not occur."
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