Pharmacy Daily | Booster boost likely

COMMUNITY pharmacists are likely to play a central role in the administration of COVID-19 vaccine (COVAX) booster shots should they be required, Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, says.

Addressing a Pharmacy Guild of Australia COVAX update webinar on Wed, Hunt said the Government was planning for the possible rollout of booster doses in 2022.

"There's not been a formal decision made [yet], but we've obviously acquired huge numbers of booster shots, and we've done it on the basis that the global evidence is indicating it's highly likely we'll [need to] have boosters," he said.

"And if we're not going to have mass vaccination clinics every year, we're going to have to use the primary network and that'll mean both GPs and pharmacies on an ongoing basis.

"That's an ongoing role [for pharmacy] that I expect will emerge from this."

Responding to questions posed by Guild National President, Trent Twomey, regarding which booster vaccines would be made available to pharmacies, Hunt said "there's been genuinely no decisions made on that".

"We have not made decisions on which vaccines [will be used for a booster campaign] let alone the distribution[of them]," he said.

"The decision on a booster [is] likely, but not made.

"Our intention is that pharmacies will be part of the ongoing program [should boosters be required]."

Twomey also raised questions about the potential for Community Service Obligation (CSO) wholesalers to play a part in supporting the distribution of COVAX doses to pharmacies.

"Clearly the preference of the sector is for the CSO to play a role [in distribution of the vaccines]," Twomey said.

However, the Minister said the current contracts had been made as part of a blind tender process, which he was not involved in.

"What I'll do is make the opportunity for you to feed in before we go to the next round," he said.

"I will not do a contract assessment and a tender process though myself, that is where we have an independent panel."