The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has warmly welcomed today's announcement by the Federal Government that additional influenza vaccine stock will be made available for Australians this flu season.
Health Minister Greg Hunt has announced that the Australian Government has secured three million additional doses of influenza vaccines to protect Australians from the flu, bringing the total number of flu vaccines available for Australians to 16.5 million for 2020.
These additional three million flu vaccines will be available through community pharmacies and GPs over April, May and June.
The demand for influenza vaccination this year has been extremely high and largely unforeseen, partly because of the focus on health and respiratory wellness caused by the onset of the COVID19 crisis. Many community pharmacies have reported very high demand, with some pharmacies expending their early deliveries of stock in record time, leaving them without stock in the face of strong consumer demand.
The National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, George Tambassis, said the Government intervention to secure additional stock was exactly the right response to the current circumstances.
"We thank Minister Hunt and the Government for taking this action now to head off a severe shortage of vaccine at the height of the flu season," Mr Tambassis said.
The very strong focus on flu vaccination this year by so many Australians promises to lead to a high level of herd immunity and hopefully produce a moderate influenza rate across our community this year – at a critical time with COVID 19 threatening our community.
"We encourage anyone who has not yet had their flu vaccination to contact their local community pharmacy to arrange a vaccination now if stock is available, or to register to be contacted when stock arrives.
"As Minister Hunt has said today, while flu vaccination does not prevent against COVID-19, vaccination against the flu is critical to protecting the general health of Australians. Both influenza and COVID-19 cause serious respiratory illness. The combination of both diseases can be life threatening, especially for our vulnerable people - so a flu vaccination is a very wise precaution in 2020," Mr Tambassis said.
The Pharmacy Guild also welcomes the announcement that additional protective face masks have been secured for the national stockpile for use by frontline health workers including community pharmacies.
