Australian pharmacists say the rapid antigen test shortage ‘isn’t safe’ for frontline workers, joining the call for a free RAT program
© Provided by Business Insider Australia
Australia’s peak pharmacy body has raised concerns about what it says is a cumulative crisis building as a result of the country’s undersupply of rapid antigen tests (RATs).
Load Error
It comes a day after NSW and Queensland announced the states were changing the rules around close contacts of positive COVID-19 cases in response to critical food and worker shortages across supermarkets and retail.
Professional Pharmacists Australia (PPA), which represents employee pharmacists, said on Tuesday the Federal Government’s undersupply of RATs was compromising the health and safety of pharmacy workers and the general public.
Jill McCabe, chief executive of the PPA, said the government’s poor preparation for the supply of RATs could lead to an unsafe testing regime.
“While access to a limited number of tests for concession card holders was a small step in the right direction, it’s still grossly inadequate,” McCabe said.
Despite calls to make RATs free by unions and other groups, Prime Minister Scott Morrison last week announced concession card holders would be able to access a limited number of free at-home tests.
“We need to make RATs freely available to all, and we need to get the supply of these tests into a range of settings, not just in pharmacies,” McCabe said.
In recent weeks as case numbers of the Omicron variant have surged, swamping testing facilities, the federal government has pivoted its recommendations toward at-home testing to ease pressure on the healthcare system.
However the country is now facing a critical undersupply of RATs, with supermarket and pharmacy shelves emptied, or briefly stocked with expensive tests, some sold individually in ziplock bags.
Video: Federal Government to increase support payment to GP clinics and pharmacies (ABC NEWS)
Morrison announced last week that federal and state governments have ordered a combined 200 million RATs, expected to arrive in Australia over the next month.
McCabe said reports emerged in recent days that some pharmacy owners were conducting the tests to meet demand in the absence of an adequate supply of RATs elsewhere.
She said the government needed to drastically rethink how it was getting RATs to the public, pointing to the UK, where the government is providing 10,000 critical workers with free daily lateral flow at-home tests. Additionally, free tests are being provided to care workers and education staff, as well as delivered to pharmacies and homes.
These rapid at-home tests use QR codes that enable testers to report results directly to the government.
McCabe said a similar approach where tests would be supplied at state hubs, community locations or sent to people in their homes should be rolled out in Australia.
“This approach has worked in the UK, and it could work here,” she said.
“Because of the undersupply of tests and testing options, pharmacists are being inundated with calls for tests and are also expected to dispense medications, administer vaccinations and provide other health services. It simply isn’t safe,” McCabe said.
Dr Geoff March, president of Professional Pharmacists Australia, said: “employee pharmacists are completely exhausted, and they are incredibly anxious about their working environment.”
The United States, which has also been grappling with rapid test shortages and price hikes, on Monday unveiled a new policy to ensure more widespread access to tests.
The White House announced that starting Saturday, private health insurers will have to cover up to eight rapid Covid-19 tests a month.
This means that millions of people with private health insurance can expect insurers to reimburse them, or that they will be able to purchase them at no cost through their insurance.
The PPA joined a raft of workers unions and peak bodies which in recent days have amplified their concerns about the safety of workers, amid a shortage of tests to enable them to check if they can safely show up at workplaces.
In a letter sent to the Prime Minister last night, and made public by Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus on Tuesday, the ACTU called for free RATs for workers and an assurance that sick people would not feel pressured to show up at stores, supermarkets or pharmacies.
The post Australian pharmacists say the rapid antigen test shortage ‘isn’t safe’ for frontline workers, joining the call for a free RAT program appeared first on Business Insider Australia.
Source: Thanks msn.com