COMMUNITY pharmacies' accessibility for patients living in rural and remote areas will be crucial to boosting uptake of COVID-19 vaccinations, under the recalibrated national rollout, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmanian Branch President, Helen O'Byrne, believes.
Welcoming the National Cabinet decision to incorporate pharmacies in the administration of COVID-19 immunisations in areas where there is no, or limited, access to vaccines (PD 26 Apr), O'Byrne said it would be a good thing for community protection against the pandemic virus.
"All pharmacies identified under the rural, remote and very remote categories are now an option for the States and Territories to turn on in the recalibrated rollout," she said.
"Using these pharmacies will help to ensure that communities in these areas are not disadvantaged by any focus on mass vaccination sites in metropolitan areas."
O'Byrne added that pharmacists will have a key role in educating the public about the vaccines.
"Pharmacists are also able to assist with vaccine hesitancy by providing the most up to date clinical information, regardless of where the service is undertaken," she said.
"We have done the same training as doctors and nurse immunisers and many pharmacies have extending opening hours, a benefit for many people.
"Clearly if you want community immunity then access is a huge factor, and no healthcare professionals are more accessible than community pharmacists," the Tasmanian Guild leader noted.
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