Local pharmacies able to deliver COVID-19 vaccinations later in the year

The federal government is set to announce which pharmacies have been deemed suitable to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine as part of the next phase of the rollout.

General practices were overwhelmed with questions from potential recipients earlier this week when their locations were revealed to the public.

Pharmacies are already administering the flu shot to customers, but 4000 across Australia submitted expressions of interest to join the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Pharmacy Guild's ACT branch president Simon Blacker said he was confident that Canberra chemists would receive a good response but warned there would be some unknowns.

One potential hurdle is the fact the ACT government is yet to introduce legislation that allows community pharmacies to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

"We anticipate that majority of Canberra's community pharmacies are ready to be approved by the government on Friday," Mr Blacker said.

"But, right now, Queensland is actually the only jurisdiction in Australia that has it written into legislation that community pharmacies can administer the vaccine."

In the Department of Health's Handbook given to prospective community pharmacies, it stipulates that states and territories have "legislative responsibility" for pharmacists delivering the vaccines and outlines that each jurisdiction may need to amend their legislation.

Once more information is provided by the commonwealth, the ACT government will be able to give the green light for legislative amendments.

Mr Blacker said the guild was having regular conservations with the government and expected they would approve the necessary changes.

"We have made the government very conscious about the need to make this happen so we expect it will," he said.

Guild national spokesperson Tiffany King said pharmacies were crucial to helping Australia's vaccine rollout.

"On average, every person visits a community pharmacy 18 times each year," Ms King said. "There's a level of trust in pharmacists that's up there with GPs and nurses," she said.

Within the ACT, pharmacists have a history of leading the charge when it comes to vaccinating the local community.

The capital was one of the first to begin administering vaccines under the National Immunisation Program. About 75 per cent of ACT pharmacies already administer various vaccines to the community.

With pharmacies preparing for flu season, Mr Blacker said information about the prospect of administering the AstraZeneca vaccine was critical.

"We hope Friday is when real information starts to flow from the government," he said.

"Just from chatting to [pharmacy] owners, we have a lot of local communities that feel more comfortable approaching pharmacists for advice on the vaccine and that makes it important to get information to these pharmacists quickly."

Mr Blacker said the guild would closely watch how GPs rolled out the vaccine in the coming weeks to make plans and suggestions for when it came time for community pharmacies to join in May.

He said so far one main point of concern was the criteria that facilities in close proximity to priority populations would be chosen ahead of others.

"That's where some big unknowns are at the moment," Mr Blacker said.

"How do you pick these properly and how do we make these locations ready to administer the vaccine?"

Ms King added: "It's our understanding that all of those pharmacies who sent in their expression of interest will be contacted by the Australian government Department of Health on Friday to receive advice about the outcomes of that activity. We don't know as yet how many will progress towards providing the COVID-19 vaccination."

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