MELBOURNE'S latest COVID-19 outbreak highlights the urgent need to bolster vaccination capacity and accelerated the immunisation campaign, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, believes.
Tassone told Pharmacy Daily that the cluster in the city's north, which has reached 15 confirmed cases has sparked an increase in demand for vaccinations across the community.
"Pharmacies stand ready to take the field and help turn this vaccine stroll-out into a roll-out that will help Australians get protected against this potentially deadly virus," he said.
"Every day across Victoria and Australia at the moment, pharmacists are administering flu vaccinations to their patients and being asked when their pharmacy will be able to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Besides the 56 locations in Queensland that were announced last week (PD 20 May) -- no other pharmacies know when they will be able to participate.
"The time has well and truly come, the virus is still with us, we need to protect our communities -- get pharmacies off the bench and into the game."
Tassone described the emergence of the new cluster as "a chilling reminder of the events of 2020", noting that yesterday marked the anniversary of the start of Melbourne's second wave.
"It is still early days as to what impact there has or will be on pharmacies, but there have been media reports of panic buying behaviour like we saw in supermarkets last year occurring in the northern suburbs of Melbourne," he said.
"At this stage, there has not been any lockdown measures announced by the Victorian government over and above some restrictions on private and public gatherings, and the need for mask wearing indoors."
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