As anti-vax sentiments grow, the medical association is calling for general practice to be kept at the centre of immunisations.
Amid what experts are calling a “dire” level of vaccine uptake ahead of flu season, pharmacists in NSW have been given the green light to immunise children in an effort to relieve pressure on general practice.
AMA NSW council member and former president Dr Michael Bonning called the move a “missed opportunity” for GPs to address vaccine hesitancy among families.
State health minister Ryan Park announced on Thursday that pharmacists could now deliver the influenza vaccine to children aged two and up; traditionally only GPs have been authorised to vaccinate children under five.
Flu vaccine coverage for children aged between six months and five years in NSW declined from 41.3% in 2020 to 25.4% in 2024.
International experiences indicate that Australia should be prepared for higher-than-usual influenza activity this Winter.
Mr Park said the NSW government wanted to make it “as accessible and as convenient as possible” for young children to get the vaccine.
“We know it can be difficult to find a GP, and we are taking pressure off of our GPs with this rule change,” he said.
Dr Bonning told The Medical Republic that general practices would be better able to run immunisation clinics if the federal government expanded funding for practice nurses to deliver flu vaccines.
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“In a situation now where there are challenges to people’s confidence in vaccines, our focus should be on engaging them in the environment where … the most time can be given to supporting vaccination activities,” he said.
“That’s why we’re asking for recognition of an approach that we know works and that was proven to work during the pandemic.”
Primary health care nurses in general practice cannot currently administer the flu vaccine without a doctor present.
Dr Bonning stressed that he was not against the state government allowing pharmacists to vaccinate younger children, but instead saw it as a missed opportunity for the Commonwealth government to assist in getting vaccines into arms.
“During the pandemic … nurses could deliver [vaccination] services on behalf of a doctor in the practice to vaccinate someone and Australia had one of the best vaccine programs in the world,” he said.
“We need to remember that every year we come up against things like flu, RSV and covid, so having consistent ways in which practice nurses are able to deliver these services will also mean that general practice can remain that one stop shop.”
Recent data from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer found that GPs were noting an increase in medical misinformation, especially in terms of vaccine hesitancy.
“A flu vaccine is also an opportunity to talk about a covid vaccine with someone,” Dr Bonning said.
“A flu vaccine is also an opportunity to talk about the upcoming four-year-old vaccines with someone.
“A flu vaccine is an opportunity to to identify other issues that are important in in the overall vaccine environment, and that’s what we want to see happen.”
