ROLLOUT of the Federal Governments free COVID-19 rapid antigen test (RAT) scheme is set to be "bumpy" Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, warns.
Speaking with Nine's Today program this morning, Twomey said 804 of the country's 6,000 community pharmacies will be providing the Government-funded RATs to eligible patients from today.
However, with supply chain constraints impacting pharmacies' ability to access sufficient stock, Twomey urged consumers to "have some patience" with their local store.
"The Guild has been in daily and weekly conversations with the supply chain - the manufacturers, the importers, the distributors, and what we know is that there are 13 million tests in the supply chain arriving just for pharmacies... between now and next Mon," he said.
"There's also another 22 million arriving just for pharmacies in the first three weeks of Feb, but like with everything with this pandemic we're competing with global supply chain shortages on RATs, not just with the UK and US, but here in Australia, so our plea is quite simple - please have patience with your local pharmacy.
"The bigger boys are getting stock before the smaller guys, and that's the same with the States and Territories."
Twomey added that in addition to problems in accessing supplies to participate in the concessional RAT scheme, current wholesale prices are above the remuneration rate ($10 plus GST, and a $4.30 administration handling and infrastructure fee) being offered by the Federal Government for pharmacies.
"Prices need to drop in order for pharmacies to be able to provide RATs at the price that this scheme is paying," he said.
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