Pharmacy students trained to provide flu and COVID jabs
In a first for Victoria, Monash Pharmacy students helped address the public health emergency posed by the pandemic and responded to an increase in influenza cases over winter by administering vaccines.
In early 2022, fourth-year pharmacy students and interns from Monash were trained to administer both the COVID-19 and Influenza vaccines as part of the surge student workforce signed off under the Victorian Government’s Public Health Emergency Orders (PHEO).
After the Orders were announced, educators from Monash University’s Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (FPPS) and the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (FMNHS) launched a training program in partnership with community pharmacies across Melbourne.
By June, fourth-year students and interns from Monash’s Bachelor of Pharmacy(Hons)/Master of Pharmacy program had completed their training. This allowed them to administer the COVID-19 and influenza vaccines to eligible patients at community pharmacy sites under the supervision of trained healthcare immunisers.
Monash FPPS Senior Lecturer and pharmacist Steven Walker oversaw the student program. He believed the opportunity enhanced the student’s skill set while providing invaluable support to community pharmacies and patients across Victoria. It was also seen as an essential step toward equipping Victoria’s future healthcare workforce with vital immunisation skills that will help serve the community now and into the future.
“By giving students the opportunity to join the vaccination surge workforce, not only do they make a valuable contribution to protecting public health, but they also ease pressure on community pharmacies whilst in the thick of a robust vaccine program for both COVID-19 and the flu,” he said.
“Our hope is that this program will contribute to a body of evidence that demonstrates that pharmacy students and interns are very capable of administering vaccines and contributing to this ongoing public health need well beyond 2022.”
