There are more pharmacies approved by the federal government to administer the AstraZeneca jab, but are waiting for supply to become available.
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The state government last week announced a pilot program involving 22 pharmacies in rural and regional areas to start delivering the jab to people aged 60 and over from mid-July.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia questioned why there's only a small number involved, when there are pharmacists all over the state qualified and willing to administer the jab.
The supply of the vaccine is secured by the federal government, while the rollout plan is controlled by the state. The NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant said during Friday's COVID-19 update that there was "scarcity of supply of the vaccines at the moment."
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Dubbo pharmacist Tim Koertz said he was one of the chemists pre-approved earlier this year.
"There was an approval process earlier in the year where we enrolled through the federal government and individual pharmacies were approved," Mr Koertz said. "We have everything in place to go ahead, we're now playing the waiting game."
The NSW government has indicated that more pharmacies will come online in the future, but has so far been unable to say when that will occur.
"I think it's a supply issue," Mr Koertz said. "The other thing which has thrown a cat amongst the pigeons is the changing guidelines around AstraZeneca. If we can get some clarity on that, it would speed up the process.
"I think we have been pretty lucky in Dubbo that there are a number of places you can go and get vaccinated, I've managed to get vaccinated. If pharmacies were doing it, people would be getting vaccinated a lot earlier and from a community perspective, the sooner we get it in more pharmacies the better."
Several pharmacies in the Central West were named in the pilot program including Narromine pharmacy, Dunedoo Pharmacy and Gilgandra Pharmacy, as well as one in Gulgong and one in Baradine.
"They are located where access to a GP or vaccine clinic is more limited due to geography," Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders said. "It is expected additional pharmacies will join the COVID-19 vaccination program in the future.
"NSW Health will continue to explore a range of options to further expand its capacity to vaccinate the people of NSW as quickly and safely as possible, including vulnerable populations and people in regional and rural NSW."
NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard said, "everyone in NSW who wants to be vaccinated, will be vaccinated as soon as possible when it's their turn."
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