Premier Roger Cook has attacked pharmacists and dismissed their concerns over a chronic lack of supply of the nasal-spray flu vaccine which the government has made free for children.
The Cook Government, last week, made FluMist available at no costs for children aged between two and 11, but pharmacists quickly raised the fact they have not been able to order anywhere near enough doses to meet demand prior to the announcement.
Terry White Chemmart Doubleview pharmacist Chad Arnold said he had to close his bookings for the spray just two days into the rollout after he was unable to order more stock.
On Monday the Premier rubbished the concerns.
“What rot is this? This is ridiculous,” he said.
“We time the distribution of vaccines so that we can spread it across the State in a timely and orderly manner.
“If we allowed one pharmacist to stock up on all of it just for his or her area, well then that’s other areas that will be denied that particular vaccine.
“This is done in an orderly way, it’s done in the usual way and I think to suggest that somehow that there’s some sort of shortage or people being denied is ridiculous.
“Pharmacists are invited to place an order each week, so that we’ve got a steady stream of the vaccines going out into the community.”
The Cook Government spent $6.6 million to buy 130,000 doses of the needle-free vaccine.
Dr Arnold told The West Australian he received a pre-allocation of 20 nasal sprays but could not order more when FluMist became available on Tuesday due to the State Government supplier not allowing more than one order a week.
“I got to Friday morning and had to close off our bookings. I haven’t put any signage up and we haven’t been having discussions with customers about the fact that there is a nasal vaccination available for kids, and it’s free, because we just don’t have the stock,” he said.
“We’re still stuck in the situation of not having stock for the weekend or the end of the school holidays, because no one would actually use any common sense and review our order properly.”
Doctors and pharmacies can now order up to 50 FluMist vaccines a week.
https://thewest.com.au/politics/state-politics/roger-cook-rubbishes-pharmacist-concerns-over-supply-of-nasal-spray-flu-vaccines-holding-back-uptake-c-22166243
