Selected NSW pharmacies have started vaccinating against COVID-19!

Today, selected pharmacies across rural and remote NSW have commenced vaccinating their communities against COVID-19. The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) commends these local pharmacies taking part in the regional NSW rollout, and applauds the Berejiklian Government for committing to maximising pharmacist involvement.

 

PSA has been working closely with the state government to secure pharmacist involvement in the strategy since the vaccine rollout commenced, and this follows Premier Berejiklian’s announcement last week that a further 1,250 pharmacies will soon be activated across NSW.

 

PSA NSW Branch President, Chelsea Felkai, and PSA National President, A/Prof Chris Freeman, thanked the NSW Government for taking action to increase access to vaccinations.

 

“Today marks an important day in the state’s response to COVID-19, particularly whilst many NSW residents remain under stay at home orders.” Ms Felkai said.

 

“We have almost 5,000 skilled, trusted and experienced pharmacist vaccinators across NSW, and when fully activated, they will make a substantial difference to the population’s uptake of the vaccine. Today’s on-boarding of these regional pharmacies is a great first step.

 

“Premier Berejiklian has made it clear that we cannot live with the delta variant unless a certain proportion of the population are vaccinated, so we need to make it as easy and convenient as possible for Australians to get vaccinated – and activating all 1,250 approved pharmacies enables this.

 

“According to a report released by the McKell Institute today, activation of 4,000 community pharmacies would allow Australia to reach its vaccination targets roughly two months faster than at the current rate.

 

“We are also pleased to see that pharmacists can now vaccinate in NSW regardless of practice setting. This means that pharmacists will be able to play a greater role in administering vaccinations in GP clinics, aged care facilities, and vaccination hubs.” Ms Felkai said.

 

A/Prof Chris Freeman added “Australia needs a unified, patient-centric approach that puts the community first. It is great to see NSW utilising its full vaccinator workforce. Pharmacists are the most obvious solution to increasing accessibility of vaccinations. We hope that more jurisdictions will follow NSW’s lead.”

 

PSA is dedicated to supporting pharmacists in delivering the COVID-19 vaccine both safely and effectively to the public, and pharmacists in the remaining jurisdictions are on standby to support the strategy.

 

<end>

 

Media contact: PSA media 0424 777 463