Pharmacist army ready to jab Australians with COVID-19 vaccine

Governments across the world are looking to anyone qualified to wield a syringe to administer the COVID-19 vaccine.

Nearly 200 vaccines against COVID-19 are being developed around the world. Picture: AFP

An army of 10,000 pharmacists will play a critical role in the immunisation of millions of Australians against COVID-19 when a vaccine arrives.

Community pharmacies are emerging as one of the key planks in the federal government’s $1.7bn effort to vaccinate Australians against the coronavirus, with the first doses expected by the middle of next year if clinical trials are successful.

The government has been speaking with Australia’s biggest pharmacy brand owners and distributors — Sigma Pharmaceuticals and Australian Pharma­ceutical Industries — about ensuring the vaccine reaches all parts of the country.

Pharmacists already administer seasonal flu vaccines, and were overwhelmed earlier this year at the onset of the pandemic as people rushed to be immunised against influenza — despite it offering no protection against COVID-19.

Pharmacists will join GPs, nurses and other health professionals qualified to give injections to inoculate against COVID-19.

It is a worldwide trend. The British government changed the law this weekend to expand the number of health professionals able to inoculate the public.

The regulations will enable pharmacists, dentists, midwives and paramedics to administer jabs.

The scale of the task is immense. The first vaccines will be given to the elderly and vulnerable. The Morrison government has secured 80 million doses – enough for two shots for every Australian and to supply some neighbouring countries.

Pharmacists will join GPs, nurses and other health professionals qualified to give injections to inoculate against COVID-19. Picture: AFP

Australian Pharmaceutical Industries chief executive Richard Vincent said pharmacists were willing to store and administer the vaccine.

“Pharmacies have more community locations across Australia, with a reach even broader than GP clinics, so we should take advantage of that,” Mr Vincent said.

“We have got pharmacists all over Australia who have been trained and know how to administer injectables and to look after injectable products in their pharmacy.

“So given the number of people and speed at which this will need to be done, it makes absolute sense to include community pharmacies.

“We have more than 10,000 pharmacists in Australia and that creates a real opportunity for the government to leverage.”

Of the 190 vaccines in development, the Morrison government has secured two — one from AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is currently in phase three trials, and other from CSL and the University of Queensland, which is expected to begin phase two trials in December.

CSL will manufacture both vaccines locally at its advanced manufacturing facility in Broadmeadows in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

While completing phase three trials successfully is challenging, distributing the vaccine is another big hurdle, particularly given it requires a cold chain storage network.

German logistics giant DHL says it has the capability to ensure the safe distribution of the vaccine, while FedEx’s Australian boss Peter Langley says it also has vaccine distribution capability.

“FedEx moves globally half a million dry ice shipments a month — so a large volume already without that vaccine,” Mr Langley said.

“We need to scale up around that.

“We are investigating that right at the moment. “Internationally, it’s nothing new.

“Domestically, it’s nothing new. We move a lot of blood samples and vaccines and reagents all around Australia and globally.

“We have 5000 employees domestically and FedEx has 500,000 employees globally. We have got the freighter network, 180,000 vehicles and in Australia 170 agents and 56 depots and stations, so we have got a very dense distribution network.”

While vaccine development is continuing apace, treatments for serious COVID-19 complications are also making progress.

The US Food and Drug Administration approved Gilead’s antiviral remdesivir on Thursday for patients hospitalised with the disease. Remdesivir, now known by the brand name Veklury, was originally developed to treat Ebola.

The antiviral was already being used to treat patients under an emergency use authorisation. It was one of the drugs US President Donald Trump was given when he had COVID-19.

Closer to home, CSL is developing an anti-SARS-CoV-2 plasma hyperimmune product for the Australian market to treat people with serious complications of COVID-19.