Western Australian pharmacies hit vaccine milestone

The milestone demonstrates the significant contribution made by community pharmacies in moving Western Australia from having the lowest level of COVID-19 vaccination to its current standing, with vaccination rates above the national average for primary and booster vaccines.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch Director, Matthew Tweedie noted that “Western Australia could not have achieved this result without the administration of COVID-19 vaccines through over 450 authorised, accessible and convenient community pharmacies”.

Their pivotal role in the COVID-19 vaccination program is another example of community pharmacies providing protection for patients and communities against vaccine preventable diseases.

Community pharmacy was first approved to administer the influenza vaccine to adults in Western Australia in 2014. Since that time, the Community Pharmacy Immunisation Program has been expanded to include a broader range of vaccines, age groups, and locations.

The WA Branch is seeking further expansion of the program, particularly to include those vaccine preventable diseases that are likely to accompany the recommencement of interstate and international travel and greater movement of people across the state’s borders.

That approval pending, as we move deeper into autumn, we are rapidly approaching flu season and community pharmacy is again poised to commence yet another significant contribution to the State’s seasonal influenza vaccine program.

In 2021, over 180,000 Western Australians were vaccinated against influenza in a community pharmacy. Whilst the state has experienced relatively low levels of influenza across the past couple of years, with the border reopening, that may not be the case in 2022.

“The WA Department of Health advice is that for the best protection against influenza, people are strongly advised to receive an influenza vaccine every year,” Mr Tweedie said. “I’d encourage all Western Australians to discuss their vaccination options, whether it be for COVID-19, influenza, or any of the other approved vaccines, with their local community pharmacy.”