GPs now the backbone of vaccine roll out

GPs across the country have stepped up around the country to support the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, with the rate of vaccination now rapidly accelerating as more GPs join the Government’s vaccination program. 

“The real world experience is showing that GPs can roll out COVID-19 vaccines to patients in very large numbers – subject to the availability of doses,” Dr Khorshid said. 

“The rollout of the vaccine program has not been easy for GPs, with tight timeframes, new administrative processes, extra training requirements and the reality of trying to explain to patients the merits of vaccination in an environment where there is a lot of misinformation. 

“Yet, despite this, GPs have continued to put their patients first and embraced the rollout in large numbers. 

“General practice is the logical and best place to support the majority of COVID-19 vaccinations. GPs know their patients and have a long history of delivering large numbers of vaccines to the community over many years.

“We have seen commentary from some who have unfairly questioned the role and capacity of general practice over recent times. While the AMA supports a range of options for vaccine delivery, including mass vaccination clinics, the only factor stopping GPs from delivering more vaccinations is supply and that should improve over the coming weeks and months. 

“The reality is that mass vaccination clinics will face the same supply constraints as general practice and are not the panacea some claim. 

“GPs are doing a fantastic job in providing access to vaccines for patients and this needs to be recognised and properly acknowledged. 

“We also know that general practice can do even more, with existing vaccination clinics ready to take larger vaccine allocations when they become available and a large number of previously ineligible practices ready to sign on to support the rollout. 

“There has been too much bickering over the rollout in recent times, that is not helping public confidence. We need to see more collaboration among Governments to support the roll out and an ongoing focus on supporting GPs to get jabs into arms as quickly as possible.”