GPs call for resources before vaccine rollout

As that happens, GP clinics are expected to take over from hospitals as the hubs for people to get the COVID-19 vaccine, but doctors warn they need to be properly supplied through the process.

Australian Medical Association Queensland spokeswoman Maria Boulton, a general practitioner, said a steady supply of PPE was needed for any clinics delivering vaccinations.

Dr Boulton said GPs would also be at the front line of this year’s flu vaccination program, meaning they would be that much busier than usual.

“If everyone needs two COVID vaccines and a flu vaccine, we’re going to need millions of syringes and trays and bandages and all the associated material,” she said.

“We don’t want to go through what we went through last year with PPE where there were shortages, we need the government to use their big procurement power to secure those consumables.”

GP clinics are supplied with PPE and other supplies in emergencies by the federal government, and are not usually able to access supplies built up by the state government for use in hospitals and other state-operated health facilities.

Dr Boulton said the federal government has already asked GP clinics to put expressions of interest in if they want to one of the 1000 GP clinics which will be involved in the initial wide release of the vaccine.

“GP clinics deal with vaccinations day-in-day-out, it’s something we do well, and last year we saw an increased demand for flu vaccines,” she said.

“It’s something we can do safely and do well, but we do need additional support.”

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People are being urged not to treat the beginning of the vaccine rollout as the end of the pandemic,.

Griffith University immunologist Nigel McMillan said the rollout was very important and people should get the vaccine if they could.

However he acknowledged the current runs of the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines did not have good coverage against the emerging South African and Brazilian variants of the virus.

“All the vaccines stop you dying or having serious illness from the virus, even from these variants, so we’re going to be fine from that point of view,” Professor McMillan said.

“I would imagine in the longer term we’re going to end up with a booster to cover these variants.

“The good news is these variants will stop showing up when we stop the virus replicating to such a high degree, which is what these vaccines do.”

Professor McMillan said until most of the Australian population had been vaccinated, and there was good coverage in other countries, things would take time to get back to a pre-pandemic sense of “normal”.

“Some are a bit hesitant but lots of people will be very keen to get the vaccine. I think by the end of October we’ll have a clearer idea about how everything is working,” he said.

“If we get to herd immunity then we can start to think about opening the international borders, but I imagine the government would require returning people to be vaccinated.”