When it comes to getting your COVID-19 vaccination, time is of the essence.
The sooner you are vaccinated, the sooner you can protect yourself and your community from the virus and the sooner life gets back to normal.
There have already been too many stories of Aussies waiting for the Pfizer vaccine and getting COVID-19 in the meantime. Tragically, some have died waiting. With abundant vaccine supplies on our shores, this is completely unnecessary. Especially now that Australians have easy access to the Moderna vaccine, which uses the same technology as Pfizer and is also administered in two doses 4-6 weeks apart.
The message is simple, for those Australians waiting for the Pfizer vaccine: Don’t wait. Booking your Moderna appointment is easy and keeps you from waiting on long queues.
Each of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)-approved COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at preventing severe illness and hospitalisation. When it comes to the question of the MRNA vaccines (Moderna and Pfizer), some recent studies even suggest Moderna may be even slightly more protective than the Pfizer vaccine.
For example, recently The New England Journal of Medicine published a study that evaluated the real-world effectiveness of the vaccines at preventing symptomatic illness in about 5,000 health care workers in 25 U.S. states. The study found that the Pfizer vaccine had an effectiveness of 88.8 percent, compared with Moderna’s 96.3 percent.
This is not to say you’re insufficiently protected if you have had the Pfizer or AstraZeneca vaccine nothing could be further from the truth. The vaccine efficacies are high, and the differences are minor.
Right now, the task at hand is to get as many Australians protected as possible, and with vaccines widely available there is no reason to wait.
The Pharmacy Guild is proud to be part of this solution, offering COVID-19 vaccines at over 3600 community pharmacies Australia-wide.
Community pharmacists are some of the most accessible healthcare professionals in the country. Ninety-seven percent of Australians living in capital cities, and two-thirds living in regional areas are only 2.5km from their local pharmacy. The opportunity to protect yourself and your family, is truly right around the corner.
As highly trained frontline primary healthcare professionals, pharmacists receive the same vaccination training as GPs and nurse practitioners and have used their clinical expertise to administer flu and other vaccinations since 2014.
Any concerns you might have about your vaccination can be discussed with your community pharmacist and nearly every pharmacy has a private consulting room. A pharmacist will always refer you to a doctor or specialist if need be.
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine from your local pharmacy will help protect you and your family, help save lives in your community, prevent more lockdowns, and relieve the burden on our GPs and hospitals.
To find your nearest participating community pharmacy and book an appointment visit www.findapharmacy.com.au