COMMUNITY pharmacies are ready, willing and able to join the next phase of the COVID-19 booster program for 16 and 17-year-olds, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, says.
Welcoming the Therapeutic Goods Administration's (TGA's) decision to grant provisional approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to be used used as a booster for older teens (PD breaking news), Twomey said it was the next logical step for the booster campaign, with the new school year due to start next week.
Plans for the rollout of the boosters will be clarified when the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) issues its advice in the coming days.
"Community pharmacists are finding a consistent level of enquiry from parents and from 16 to 17-year-olds themselves on how best to keep themselves safe," he said.
"We are close to the start of the school year. The greater the level of vaccination, the less the chances will be of COVID variants spreading through a school population."
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