Five pharmacies across Canberra will open their doors for walk-in vaccinations in a two-day campaign to reach people who have had trouble making a booking for their jab.
“Research shows 97% of Canberrans visit Fyshwick every year and in our ongoing efforts to help get everyone back to business-as-usual, we have worked with the Pharmacy Guild ACT to deliver walk-in AstraZeneca vaccination hubs where no booking is required,” Fyshwick Business Association President Rob Evans said.
“We know from our recent experience running drive-through clinics that some people find it hard to attend a clinic at an appointed time or are overwhelmed by the need in almost every vaccination setting to make a booking in advance, typically online. There may be literacy issues, language issues, poor access to computers or smartphones, or they just don’t know where they will be at a certain time and can’t be sure they’ll make it.
“Whatever the reason, they need to be able to just turn up to get a jab, and community pharmacies are in a perfect position to deliver that service.”
The AZ walk-in campaign will run this Friday and Saturday 1-2 October from 9am-5pm at:
Lanyon Pharmacy, Conder
Priceline Pharmacy, Westfield Woden
Pharmacy on Petrie, Canberra Centre
Capital Chemist, Uni of Canberra, Bruce
Franklin Discount Drug Store, Franklin
The campaign will be supported by community service announcements on both AM and FM radio.
President of the Pharmacy Guild ACT, Simon Blacker said pharmacies had been busy delivering the first doses of Moderna which landed in the ACT last week, but once those initial supplies were exhausted, some pharmacies were able to devote capacity to delivering available AstraZeneca at the walk-in hubs.
“Community pharmacies have been playing a key part in Canberra’s vaccine rollout for seven weeks now, with around 20,000 doses administered so far, and forward bookings for Moderna have been snapped up quickly, particularly for 12-15 year olds.
“Using our available supplies of AstraZeneca at these walk-in clinics is another way we can help boost vaccination levels in the ACT,” Mr Blacker said.