PHARMACEUTICAL Society of Australia (PSA) NSW president, Professor Peter Carroll and Pharmacy Guild NSW president David Heffernan have issued a formal proposal to NSW Health to bring the state into line with other states when it comes to pharmacist administered vaccination.
In NSW, pharmacists accredited to vaccinate are only allowed to administer influenza vaccine to people aged 18 years and over, while in some of the other states, accredited pharmacists are approved to administer influenza vaccine plus a range of other vaccines including diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP), and measles, mumps & rubella (MMR).
"Expanding vaccination choice and opportunity in NSW as a public health initiative will further protect against disease across NSW," the presidents said in a joint statement.
Under current regulations, in NSW, if a family of two adults with teenage children under the age of 18 presents to the pharmacy to be immunised against influenza, the adults can be vaccinated but the teenage children cannot.
"All feedback suggests that this situation results in the teenage children not being vaccinated at all," Heffernan and Carroll said.
"We believe these actions will increase herd immunity in NSW, and significantly increase the uptake of influenza vaccination."
In addition, the National Immunisation Program (NIP) is available for influenza vaccination in Vic and WA through community pharmacy, with both presidents saying they believe there should be equitable access to the NIP across all states and territories.
Further, they also argued that "there should also be Government funding for vaccinations by pharmacist immunisers through the MBS in line with other health care professionals - why should pharmacists be treated any differently?"
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