Pharmacies in Victoria are to be offered up to $15,000 to join COVID-19 booster and childhood vaccination programs.

The Victorian Government is seeking to entice community pharmacies and general practices to participate in the rollout of COVID-19 boosters and children’s vaccines, through its Vaccination Enhancement Grants for Primary Care program. 

Coming on the back of the Federal Government’s decision to increase pharmacies’ remuneration for administering booster doses by $10 (Pharmacy Daily Breaking News yesterday), the Victorian grants will offer pharmacies $15,000 if they commence services by 04 January 2022, or $10,000 if they start providing the vaccines no later than 10 January 2022. 

Successful applicants will be required to spend all the grant funding by 07 February 2022, with the Department of Health noting “unspent money may need to be repaid”. 

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone, told Pharmacy Daily, the State Government’s grants program was “just the shot in the arm that the COVID-19 booster program needed here”. 

“The Victorian primary care grants scheme will help pharmacies provide additional vaccination services to the public for booster doses and children aged five to 11-year-olds whether it be more appointments on weekdays or be able to provide services on weekends through the employment of more pharmacist immuniser and support staff,” he said.

“The Guild greatly welcomes this investment and leadership shown by the Victorian government and the trust and confidence they have in primary care including pharmacies to play a major role in the COVID-19 booster dose program along with helping protect children.

“This is another opportunity for community pharmacy to step up and demonstrate our capabilities of delivering vaccination services to younger patients, and not only help protect our community but push the case for the lowering of the minimum age of administering other vaccines – such as influenza which currently is from 10 years old and above in Victoria.

“We hope that as many pharmacies as possible apply for these grants to provide additional services to help our response to the Omicron variant as we need all immuniser hands on deck to get the job done.”

Pharmacies will have until 5pm on New Year’s Eve to submit an expression of interest for the $15,000 grant, and until 5pm on Wednesday 05 January 2022 to apply for the $10,000 funding program. 

Click here to register. 

Meanwhile, community pharmacies in NSW hit a major milestone in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, surpassing one million doses administered through the network. 

With case numbers rising rapidly in NSW, the State Government has confirmed the reintroduction of its mask mandate for indoor settings from midnight tonight. 

NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet also confirmed it will provide free rapid antigen testing for residents from next year, saying the State needed to “move away from PCR testing”.

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