FORMER Federal MP and Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Professor Kerryn Phelps (pictured), is being accused of scaremongering, after questioning pharmacists' abilities to manage anaphylaxis.
Minutes after the announcement the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Executive Director, Suzanne Greenwood, had become the first person to receive their COVID-19 vaccine in a community pharmacy yesterday, Phelps posted, "I wonder how many community pharmacists have actually managed a case of anaphylaxis?" on Twitter.
Guild Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, described Phelps' post as "unhelpful" and suggested, "if this was a workplace it would be deemed bullying".
"During a health crisis the public rightly expect and deserve their health professionals to work together as a team for their interest not [the] self-interest of practitioners," he said.
"We literally need all immuniser hands on deck to undertake this massive task of vaccinating all eligible patients in our population.
"To read her comments whilst in Melbourne during lockdown, knowing that at my own pharmacy and those of many of my colleagues we are turning away ready, willing and eligible patients every day for COVID-19 vaccination as we don't have stock is absolutely insulting."
Speaking with Pharmacy Daily, Tassone called on Phelps to "stop being a detractor" of her pharmacy colleagues, warning that negative comments about the profession had the potential to cause harm.
"Stop undermining suitably trained and competent health professionals who are only wanting to help protect their patients and communities on a pathway to recovery," he said.
Responding to Phelps' tweet, Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Education Professor, Dr Tina Brock, called for greater collaboration between health professionals to support the vaccine rollout.
"COVID vaccination is a race," she said.
"Let's run this as a relay, handing the baton between fields (all working at top of scope) to get the entire population fully vaccinated as safely and quickly as possible".
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