Plans to gift 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to nations around the Pacific should be put on hold while Australia grapples with its own “humanitarian crisis”, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, believes.
During an eight-minute-long media call this afternoon, Twomey hit out at the Federal Government’s “bungled” vaccination campaign, and calling for Department of Health Secretary, Professor Brendan Murphy, to “take responsibility” for Australia’s “deadset last” ranking in the OECD for the number of people who have been vaccinated.
He said pharmacists were “exhausted and frustrated” at not being able to meet the needs of Australians who what to be vaccinated, adding that he had “lost patience and had had enough” of the Commonwealth’s approach to the rollout.
“I was really annoyed this morning to wake up and hear that the Commonwealth Government is considering sending 20 million AstraZeneca vaccines to the Pacific Islands,” he said. “It’s not good enough [when] over half the Australian population is now entering a lockdown.”
