The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch President, Chris Owen, said that almost 800 community pharmacies will begin to administer Moderna COVID-19 vaccines this week in Queensland.
The Hon Karen Andrews MP, Federal Minister for Home Affairs, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s National President, Trent Twomey, and Mr. Owen were joined by the Beak and Breusch families at Priceline Pharmacy George Street this morning. Their children, Archie Beak (13) and Tara Breusch (12), were the first to receive doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine in a Queensland community pharmacy.
“Today Archie and Tara were excited to receive their first Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations,” said Mr. Owen.
“Increasingly we are seeing evidence of younger people being affected by the Delta strain of COVID-19, so it is imperative that that children like Archie and Tara are protected along with the rest of the community throughout Queensland,” said Mr. Owen.
“With the arrival of the Moderna vaccine all adolescents and adults can be covered,” said Mr. Owen,
“the community can find their closest community pharmacy administering Moderna or AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccinations at findapharmacy.com.au.”
Minister Andrews said it was fantastic to see the million Moderna doses that arrived over the weekend go straight to local pharmacies and into the arms of Australians.
“Around 80,000 doses of Moderna will be available for Queenslanders through community pharmacies over the next few days, with even more to come over the coming weeks,” Minister Andrews said.
“This is great news for Queenslanders and all Australians. It’s through vaccination that we come out of the pandemic –make sure you get vaccinated, and encourage your friends, family and colleagues to get vaccinated too.”
Mr. Owen said the number of Queenslanders accessing their free COVID-19 vaccinations through their community pharmacy demonstrated the critical role pharmacies play as trusted primary healthcare providers.
“We’ve been blown away at the response from Queenslanders wanting to come in have access to COVID-19 vaccinations through their community pharmacy,” said Mr. Owen, “At 26 September more than 75,000 AstraZeneca doses had been administered through Queensland community pharmacies.”
“Regardless of your age, when you arrive at your community pharmacy, your pharmacist will undertake a health assessment and discuss the risks and benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine. Both the patient and vaccinator need be satisfied that the benefits outweigh the risks before any vaccination takes place,” said Mr. Owen.
“Anyone administering a COVID-19 vaccine in community pharmacies has undergone the Commonwealth’s mandatory training with the Australian College of Nurses on this specific vaccine.”
The community can visit findapharmacy.com.auto find their closed Queensland community pharmacy administering AstraZeneca and Moderna COVID-19 vaccinations.