Pharmacy Daily | Guild urges united vax front

PHARMACY Guild executive director David Quilty has urged doctor's groups to present a united front with pharmacists to help boost influenza vaccination rates in the Australian community.

Writing in Forefront yesterday, Quilty recounted a conversation last year with a senior executive from a doctor's organisation who made it clear that "flu vaccinations in community pharmacies are a good idea because they provide enhanced access for patients who are unlikely to visit a doctor".

However Quilty said the unnamed doctor's representative added that his group was unable to "publicly support pharmacist vaccinations for political reasons".

That's been increasingly clear in recent weeks as the AMA and RACGP have ramped up their rhetoric against pharmacy flu jabs.

Quilty noted that the public health benefits of herd immunity dictate that pharmacies pay a vital role in vaccinating as many as possible of the millions of Australians who do not visit their GP for a flu shot.

"Last year some 69% of Australians did not get a flu shot and everyone in the health system should be working together to reduce the size of the unacceptably high unvaccinated population cohort, rather than taking pot shots at each other," Quilty said.

He noted that as pharmacist administered vaccinations have rolled out over the last three years there has been no evidence of any increased risk to patients.

"Infectious disease experts have made it clear that pharmacists did not risk the efficacy of the immunisation program by offering flu vaccinations to healthy adults from late March," he said.

Quilty said influenza should not be the subject of turf wars or political game-playing, adding that "doctor organisations should be acknowledging publicly that pharmacies have a vital role in maximising community access to flu vaccinations.

"Imagine the power of a united doctor-pharmacist campaign to get the nation vaccinated for this coming flu season," he concluded.