QUEENSLAND'S Chief Health Officer, Dr Jeannette Young, wants to see community pharmacies become "mass vaccination" centres as the rollout of the COVID-19 national immunisation campaign gathers pace.
Speaking at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference (APP) on Fri, Young thanked the community pharmacy sector for its work throughout the pandemic and implored delegates to step up to the task of ensure high levels of vaccination uptake in their areas, following the Thu's announcement that 56 pharmacies in regional Queensland have been approved to join the campaign.
Young noted that the daily COVID-19 vaccination rate topped 100,000 for the the first time last week.
"Now pharmacists are onboard it's going to accelerate, because you normally do vaccination," she said.
"I always believe that in a disaster, and this is a disaster... you just take your normal processes and ramp them up.
"It is really essential that pharmacists get involved... and I've said it to [Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President] Trent [Twomey] and the team, that I knew there was a reason that I back you [to vaccinate] in 2014, now I want the pay back!
"I don't want to go an stand up mass vaccination clinics in school halls at weekends.
"I want you to do mass vaccination, because your communities know you... you do it all the time with flu [and] you vaccinate beautifully.
"You can vaccinate with mRNA and AstraZeneca."
Young also praised the way pharmacists have rolled out other vaccine services over the year and urged them to "keep doing it".
She added that across the range of services community pharmacies provide: "you possibly need to ask for a bit more money."
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