AGED CARE residents in rural and remote New South Wales will be given the gift of critical COVID-19 vaccinations this Christmas, as figures show just 38% of aged care residents have received a booster shot.
Life Pharmacy Group (LPG) Pharmacists from Forbes, Parkes, Dubbo, and Bathurst are travelling across the state to deliver, and administer, hundreds of vaccinations to patients in residential aged care facilities.
The LPG team will visit sites in Balranald, Bourke, Cobar, Condobolin, Gulgong, Kandos, Mudgee, Orange, Parkes, Rylstone, Wellington, and Yeoval, from 5 December travelling by car and aircraft to reach the remote areas.
It comes as an eighth COVID wave grips NSW, threatening holiday festivities for a third year.
“We’re going to centres which, quite often, may not have a GP or pharmacy in those towns so our stores are offering outreach services to assist the vulnerable patients in those communities that otherwise don’t have a health professional to assist with vaccinations,” Owner, and Pharmacist in Charge of Orana Mall Pharmacy Dubbo, Lisa Gibson said.
“Reduced vaccination rates are part of the increase in cases, which means people’s immunity is wearing off from those boosters that most of us have had, either earlier in the year or in previous years. As people come together more frequently towards Christmas and new year, the potential for cluster outbreaks increases.”
The Australia Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) has recommended all adults aged 75 years and older, should receive an additional COVID-19 booster vaccine dose if six months have passed since their last dose[2].
In a similar initiative in June of this year, the LPG team delivered more than 600 vaccines to aged care residents in remote locations across NSW.