TGA considering changing storage rules of Pfizer jab, could allow Aussies to get dose at GPs or pharmacists: Hunt

Queenslanders could get access to the Pfizer jab through GPs or pharmacists, on top of state-run hubs, after Health Minister Greg Hunt teased a possible change in vaccine storage conditions.

Queenslanders could get access to the Pfizer jab through GPs or pharmacists, on top of state-run hubs, after Health Minister Greg Hunt teased a change in vaccine storage conditions being considered by authorities.

Pfizer’s mRNA jab, preferred for those aged under 50, originally needed to be stored at ultra-cold temperatures until a recent change allowed doses to be stored in normal fridge temperatures of -2C to -8C for up to five days.

But Mr Hunt, speaking in Brisbane, confirmed the Therapeutic Goods Administration was considering another change to line up with those made by European Union authorities this week.

Health Minister Greg Hunt Press during a conference in South Brisbane. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

Under the EU changes, Pfizer jabs can be stored for up to a month in normal fridge conditions, a move the European Medicines Agency believes will have a “significant impact on planning and logistics”.

“For the Australian context and that would open up general practice and pharmacy options with Pfizer so that’s a very important development,” Mr Hunt said.

“TGA will assess it, but they work very closely with their European and North American counterparts.”

It comes as Queensland Health confirmed a dozen new Pfizer hubs, to be located within hospital and health services, would be open by the end of next week.

The Pfizer jabs will go first to frontline workers and other priority groups but the department did not say if the hubs would create a general waitlist, as New South Wales has done, to vaccinate those under 50 if stray spare doses become available.

A total of 640,931 jabs have been delivered in Queensland, across the state and federal arms of the rollout, as of May 17 — the equivalent of 12 per cent of all people in the state getting one dose.

But just 1 per cent of Queenslanders with a disability, or 25 people, have received a COVID-19 vaccine jab, according to a community organisation.

Queenslanders with Disability Network chief executive Paige Armstrong said people with disabilities remain “extremely vulnerable” and there was no time for complacency.

“A lot of preparation and planning in Queensland has gone into place to make sure people with disability can have accurate information about the vaccine and how they will receive it – the ongoing question is when,” Ms Armstrong said.

“Queenslanders with disability can’t keep being put on hold and left in the dark about when they are going to get the vaccine. 25 Queenslanders out of approximately 5,400 eligible in this priority group is just not good enough.”