The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) is pleased that some Western Australian community pharmacists have commenced vaccinating against COVID-19, but calls for full activation of the pharmacy workforce.
From today, 49 Western Australian community pharmacies in locations such as Broome, Denmark and Esperance, will commence immunising their local communities against COVID-19.
PSA has been working closely with the Western Australian Government to secure pharmacist involvement in the rollout and is delighted to see that this has finally come to fruition in regional WA.
PSA WA President, Dr Fei Sim, said that this outcome has been long-awaited but is concerned that pharmacist involvement is still limited.
"This is fantastic for rural residents in towns including Donnybrook, Narogin and Wickham, but with 50 percent of people aged over 50 years still to get their first dose, it is time to activate all approved community pharmacies in WA now.
"While this is a great start, a further 463 pharmacies have been approved by the government, but are yet to start vaccinating.
"As Australia's most accessible healthcare workforce, bringing all community pharmacists on-board will accelerate the rollout, especially in Australia's largest and most population-dispersed state.
"While Western Australia's COVID-19 experience is the envy of the world, vaccination is the only path out of the pandemic.
"We must do everything we can to get as many Western Australians vaccinated against this terrible disease as soon as possible. This means activating all of our full vaccinator workforce – including pharmacists – as soon as possible," Dr Sim said.
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.
