Pharmacy Vaccination Pilot Starts

The Queensland Pharmacist Immunisation Pilot (QPIP) has begun. Seventy seven pharmacies are administering influenza vaccinations as of yesterday, with Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) Queensland branch president Professor Lisa Nissen saying she thought between 400 to 500 vaccinations would be administered in the first day across all sites.

A joint initiative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the PSA, the pilot was launched after consultation with the Department of Health and involved training for pharmacists around administration of vaccines and the management of adverse events.

Pharmacists had been very excited to participate and enjoyed the training and the opportunity to do something different from day to day pharmacy practice, she said. Nissen said all sites had reported that things were going well and feedback had been very positive from all involved. The pilot was exciting for the profession, with pharmacists embracing the  opportunity to get involved in providing immunisation services.

It was great that the public had responded well to pharmacists providing this, she said, which increased access to vaccination services.

Source: pharmacydaily.com.au, Wednesday 2 April 2014