AUSTRALIA is falling "hopelessly behind" in its rollout of COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX) and needs to utilise all available immunisers including pharmacists, Federal Shadow Health Minister, Mark Butler, believes.
Speaking at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference, Butler (pictured), welcomed news that 56 pharmacies in rural Queensland are set to join the rollout campaign (PD yesterday), but questioned when more stores would be approved.
"We need all hands on deck," he said, adding "and I want to see your services as community pharmacists engaged in just as central a way as they were last year as we were trying to get that first wave of the pandemic under control.
"Now we know out of the National Cabinet decision announced in Apr that broadly your services have been deferred from the original intention, which was to have you working [in administering COVAX] as early as May.
"I'm glad to hear there was an announcement at least in Queensland for several dozen community pharmacies to be engaged very soon... but quite when the rest of your services are going to be engaged in this incredibly important national logistical exercise still remains unclear to me.
"And meanwhile we are hopelessly behind schedule... we need to ramp this up quickly."
Butler also criticised the Prime Minister's view that the rollout of COVAX was not a race.
"It is a race," Butler said.
"We're seeing other countries that did just as well as Australia last year, like Taiwan, Singapore and South Korea, now battling outbreaks particularly of the variants that are much more infectious and some of which are resistant to some of the vaccines.
"We need more urgency in this program and we need more trusted hands on deck."
He added that 1.3 million doses of COVAX are available each week in Australia, but less than a third are going into people's arms.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 21 May 21
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 21 May 21
