Extra Flu Vax to Benefit All Australians

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is pleased to welcome the announcement that additional flu vaccine stock will be provided for the benefit of all Australians in the coming flu season.

Health Minister Greg Hunt’s confirmation that an additional three million doses will be supplied, bringing the total number of flu vaccines available to 16.5 million for 2020, will ease some of the anxiety that was beginning to build among community pharmacists and their patients.

The demand for influenza vaccination this year has been extremely high and largely unforeseen, partly because of the focus on health and respiratory wellness caused by the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. Many community pharmacies have reported very high demand, with some pharmacies expending their early deliveries of stock in record time, leaving them without stock in the face of strong patient demand.

The additional three million doses won’t materialise instantly, so it will likely be the case that some community pharmacies will continue to be out of vaccine for a while – but hopefully the supply chain will deliver in good time for the excess patient demand to be met in the coming weeks ahead of winter.

The very strong focus on flu vaccination this year by so many Australians promises to lead to a high level of herd immunity and hopefully produce a moderate influenza rate across our community this year – at a critical time with COVID-19 threatening.

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Source: https://www.guild.org.au/news-events/news/forefront/v10n08/extra-flu-vax-to-benefit-all-australians, viewed 23 April 2020.