PHARMACISTS are ready and waiting to join the COVID-19 vaccination (COVAX) campaign, but "the goalposts keep moving", regional Victorian pharmacy owner, Taren Gill, told ABC Victoria's Conversation Hour.
Gill noted community pharmacies had been advised that they would join the national immunisation efforts in May or Jun, adding "now we just don't know".
"My team of pharmacists here in Maryborough - and I know my colleagues around the State and country - have done our training and we're still waiting for the green light," she said.
"There is a ready workforce in pharmacy who are happy to help [with the vaccination effort]."
Gill welcomed the Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA's) decision to approve more flexible storage arrangements for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (PD 24 May).
"The big gamechanger for a successful rollout is the fact that we can now have the vaccine - the Pfizer one - stored in the normal 2-8C vaccine fridge that every pharmacy has, making it even easier [to store]," she said.
The Maryborough pharmacist added that she had seen "a lot of hesitancy" around the vaccine, but said the recent outbreak in Melbourne news that exposure sites have been identified in nearby Bendigo could encourage patients to get vaccinated.
"I think the message is clear from health professionals, and it's a single message that the best thing we can do is to get vaccinated and have that community immunity," she said.
"It's unfortunate that we have a cluster so close to home, but hopefully it does promote the idea that this is an important thing, and we may live regionally, but we're not really too far away from the action."
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