Pharmacists have warned of minimal stock of the needle-free flu vaccine in the first week of the free rollout for kids due to an order limit.
It comes just days after the Health Minister boasted the rollout would make flu vaccinations more accessible for children across the State.
FluMist — a needle-free alternative to flu vaccinations — became available for free on Wednesday for WA children between the ages of two to under 12.
The vaccine is administered as a quick nasal spray.
Terry White Chemmart Doubleview pharmacist Chad Arnold had to close his bookings for the needle-free flu vaccine just two days into the rollout after being unable to order more stock.
He said he received a pre-allocation of 20 nasal sprays but could not order more when FluMist became available on Tuesday due to the State Government supplier not allowing more than one order per week.
“The program launched on Tuesday and stock was available to order more,” he said.
“We’d already used half of our 20 and essentially my order was rejected because I’d ordered other vaccines that week — essentially it meant I have to wait until the 20th to order more.”
He said the delay came during a week where it would’ve been the perfect time for parents to be able to bring their children in during the school holidays.
“It was really the perfect opportunity for people to be able to get vaccinated,” he said.
“I got to Friday morning and had to close off our bookings. I haven’t put any signage up and we haven’t been having discussions with customers about the fact that there is a nasal vaccination available for kids, and it’s free, because we just don’t have the stock.
“We’re still stuck in the situation of not having stock for the weekend or the end of the school holidays, because no one would actually use any common sense and review our order properly.”
Mr Arnold said he was only able to give 20 needle-free vaccines last week, which could have been doubled if he had the stock.
“If we’d actually been able to promote it and have bookings freely available we would have doubled our numbers quite easily,” he said.
“Also a lot of people don’t know about the nasal vaccine because it’s the first year so it needs to be promoted by pharmacies and by doctors to get that knowledge out there.
“If you haven’t got the stock available, you can’t promote it.”
Not being able to place his order until Monday means it could take another five days to receive more FluMist stock.
Pharmacists and doctors can now order up to 50 FluMist vaccines per week.
Preventative Health Minister Sabine Winton said distribution limits were designed to avoid oversupply while uptake becomes clearer.
“The rollout is well underway, with over 120,000 doses already received for distribution to communities across Western Australia in the coming weeks,” she said.
“Most participating providers across both metropolitan and regional WA have now begun receiving doses, with availability continuing to expand as additional stock is distributed.
“As a new vaccination in WA, demand for FluMist is still emerging, so distribution limits are designed to avoid oversupplying areas that may not use all doses, while uptake patterns become clearer.”
There have been 1715 cases of influenza in WA so far this year — more than 440 of those infections among children under 15.
Shadow Health Minister Libby Mettam said the nasal spray is a great initiative but falls flat if pharmacists can’t access enough doses to meet demand.
“We know childhood flu vaccination rates have fallen significantly since COVID. A needle-free option was a clear opportunity to turn that around, particularly in WA, where rates are among the lowest in the country,” she said.
“You can’t improve uptake if supply is constrained.”
A Pharmacy Guild spokesperson said orders for Government FluMist stock opened last week and pharmacies will be able to place weekly orders for the duration of the program.
“We encourage all parents who would like to get their children aged two to eleven years vaccinated with the pain free FluMist vaccine to book at their local pharmacy via findapharmacy.com.au,” he said.
Eligible families can access the vaccine through GPs, pharmacies, community health clinics and Aboriginal Medical Services.
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