VICTORIA, South Australia and the Northern Territory are being urged to amend legislation to enable trained pharmacy students and interns to administer vaccines to support the rollout of any COVID-19 vaccines (COVAX).
In an open letter to the Governments to the three regions, National Australian Pharmacy Students' Assocation (NAPSA) President, Ethan Kreutzer, said students could bolster the immunisation workforce.
Kreutzer noted provisionally registered pharmacists in the ACT, NSW, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia, are authorised to administer vaccines with supervision, having completed the required training.
"In Queensland, under the Queensland Pharmacist Vaccination Standard, the ability to administer vaccines also extends to pharmacy students with supervision," he said.
"We see this as a model to pursue, not only in your respective jurisdictions, but also around the rest of the nation, utilising a ready-made workforce to achieve optimal public health outcomes.
"We call on the other states and territory to also allow pharmacy students to administer immunisations."
Kreutzer noted that pharmacy students in the US have been involved in the preparation and administration of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.
"They have demonstrated their immense value in providing easy access to a much-needed immunisation," he said.
With the necessary legislative reforms, Kreutzer said pharmacy students and interns could play a crucial role in supporting the 2021 flu-vax campaign.
"We call upon your governments to make these changes to the approval requirements in your respective states and territory, allowing both pharmacy students and provisionally registered pharmacists to immunise under supervision," he said.
"The Australian Pharmacy Council has updated its Standards for the Accreditation of Programs to support Pharmacist Administration of Vaccines, to ensure that pharmacy students are eligible to take part in a training program for vaccinations.
"The foundations are in place already... we just need your help in making it a reality.
"Having a larger immunisation workforce will only ever be a positive."
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