PHARMACIST immunisers will be required to record every influenza vaccine they administer on the Australian Immunisation Register (AIR) from 01 Mar under new mandatory reporting measures backed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
The recording requirements will also apply to COVID-19 vaccines, as soon as they become available, while other National Immunisation Program vaccines will have to be recorded from 01 Jul.
Immunisers who fail to comply with the new measures will face fines of $6,660.
A Guild spokesperson told Pharmacy Daily that, "the Guild fully supports the use of AIR and recommends community pharmacies record the vaccination services they deliver for patients".
The implementation of legislation mandating the use of AIR comes less than a year after the National Centre for Surveillance's Review of pharmacist vaccination reporting found "significant underreporting to the register" (PD 16 Jun 2020).
However, the Guild Tasmanian Branch Director, Monique McKrill reported that the reporting issues were associated with problems "at the receiving end" at the time (PD 22 Jun 2020).
"The AIR has confirmed there is a backlog of pharmacy data that has been appropriately submitted but which they have been unable to load onto the register," she said.
Guild Queensland Branch Director, Gerard Benedet, told Pharmacy Daily it was important to "make sure everyone understands that it wasn't a MedAdvisor or GuildLink problem" (PD 26 Jun 2020).
"Both of those platforms are doing the right thing," he said.
"We look forward to the AIR sorting out its backlog and giving people a more accurate picture of the recording of vaccinations across all immunisers, whether that's nurse, doctor or pharmacist."
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