The Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler has announced that pharmacists will be funded by the Government to go into residential aged care homes and deliver vaccines to residents for free, a measure that was previously only available to GPs.
With the flu season start in Australia, the Minister said pharmacies will now be paid the same amount as GPs to deliver vital vaccines in residential aged care.
"Although the weather out there is utterly beautiful, it is important to say that flu season already is upon us," he said.
"Already, we have about 40% more cases than we had at the same time last year. So it's important to start talking about the importance of flu vaccination.
"It's important... particularly after four years of a COVID pandemic where there wasn't as much attention on flu, to remind Australians that flu can be a very serious disease, particularly for older Australians over the age of 65 for other Australian adults who might have compromised immunity."
The new program will commence on Monday, 29 April 2024. More then 4,000 pharmacies have already agreed to enter residential aged care homes.
