Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy an under-tapped resource

STATE, Territory and Federal Governments may not be optimising the reach of influenza immunisation campaigns during the COVID-19 crisis by failing to tap into pharmacists' capabilities, University of Western Australia School of Social Sciences Senior Lecturer, Dr Katie Attwell, believes.

Attwell told a recent World Federation of Public Health Associations webinar that ensuring the accessibility of a potential COVID-19 vaccine would be key to any successful campaign, with community pharmacy one of a number of possible sites where patients could access immunisation services.

"It is likely that if and when the COVID vaccine becomes available, State Governments will want to use a range of delivery mechanisms to get the vaccines out to the public, which may include their own resources as well as the private sector, including pharmacists," she told Pharmacy Daily.

"The Government would likely rely on the relatively recent history of pharmacists vaccinating the public with flu vaccines, and the lessons from this experience."

She added that health policy makers need to reassess how pharmacists are used to deliver vaccines going forward.

"Pharmacists may presently be an under-tapped resource in terms of flu vaccination, particularly during the COVID lockdowns," she said.

"It makes sense for the Federal Government to consider how to better utilise pharmacists, particularly for opportunistic walk-in appointments that could reach even shoppers who were not planning to visit the pharmacy.