ACT pharmacies warn of month-long waits for fourth COVID-19 vaccine doses amid flu jab demand

Anyone aged over 30 became eligible for a fourth jab last week, with Australia on the brink of a major COVID-19 case surge driven by the highly-infectious Omicron strain.

More than 3.4 million Australians have now received a fourth COVID-19 dose, including 65,851 in the ACT.

ACT Pharmacy Guild president Simon Blacker said pharmacies were administering roughly 1000 fourth doses daily, but warned Canberrans to be patient as they sought their booster.

"Patients may need to wait two, or three, or four weeks to get an appointment ... We were already vaccinating at near capacity before ATAGI and the TGA changed their guidelines," he said.

"[But] I'm not hearing feedback from community pharmacies that patients are complaining strongly about the scenario.

"That means the population is pretty well aware the public health and primary health systems are working hard."

Contributing to the backlog is pharmacies scrambling to meet surging demand for influenza vaccinations amid the largest flu wave since COVID-19 arrived in Australia.

With boosters and first doses for children still being administered - 80.6 per cent of Canberrans aged five to 11 have had at least one dose - many pharmacies have ruled out offering boosters to walk-in clients.

Walk-in provision of boosters, including third and fourth doses, remain at some pharmacies and various medical clinics across Canberra.

The ACT recorded another 1407 official cases on Thursday, though Health Minister Mark Butler warned this week the national figure likely now accounted for only half of new infections.

But chief medical officer Paul Kelly has tipped the Omicron wave to peak next month, and Mr Blacker predicted pharmacies would be able to focus primarily on COVID-19 boosters by then.

"What's happening is, as we expected, the number of influenza vaccinations being requested is dropping, so we're able to do more COVID-19 vaccination. That's a transition," he said.

Mr Blacker said a number of people had presented for a third or fourth dose, unaware they were ineligible having contracted COVID-19 within the previous three months.

To add to the pressure, Mr Blacker warned pharmacies were not immune to COVID-enforced staff shortages wracking other sectors.

"We've got staff who may have COVID-19, may have influenza, may not be well, may have children [who] are affected," he said.

"So you've just got a bit of a capacity constraint within the community pharmacy sector at the moment."

Kenny Voung, pharmacist and manager of the Lyneham Pharmacy, said things have been "quite busy" since fourth doses were made available.

"We have heaps of patients coming in the morning and afternoon for fourth doses, the majority of them are actually fourth doses," he said.

"We are generally booked up to two weeks in advance which is quite busy."

O'Connor resident Michael O'Donnell booked an appointment as soon as over 30s were able to get their fourth dose, receiving his at Lyneham Pharmacy on Thursday.

"I was waiting for it to be opened up, so it was sort of aligned when I was beginning to become concerned that it's been about six months since my last, I should be looking to get another booster," he said.

"As soon as they became available, I went online and booked a slot. This time was convenient."

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