Vaccination reminder for flu season

6/06/25

National, Practice Alerts

With the flu season here, now is a good time to review your vaccination service to ensure staff training, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and resources are up to date.

Suggested areas of review

Ensure all training and certification requirements for vaccinating pharmacists and support staff are current.
Review the PDL Guide to Medicines by Injection, PSA Practice Guidelines for the provision of immunisation services, clinical updates, legislative requirements and vaccination incident reports from the past 6-12 months.
Complete the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines: ‘Strive for 5’, Appendix 2 – Vaccine Storage Self Audit.
Confirm your vaccine fridge has been serviced in the last 12 months.
Ensure compliance with the National Vaccine Storage Guidelines: ‘Strive for 5’.
Ensure resources including staff levels, consult rooms, sharps disposal and the anaphylaxis kit meet legislative requirements and are sufficient for a quality vaccine service.
Keep a current list of useful contacts, such as the local Public Health Unit, the Vaccine Operation Centre and the AIR.
Familiarise yourself with potential vaccination injuries and reporting obligations.
Review protocols and prevention strategies for needle stick injuries.
Ensure your vaccination knowledge is current and captured in your CPD plan.
Review your vaccination procedure to ensure competency is maintained.
Review the NSW cold chain breach protocol (whilst this is a state-specific resource, it is a valuable reference guide).

Potential areas of risk

Administration of incorrect vaccine.
Incorrect vaccine for patient age.
Administration of contraindicated vaccine, e.g. Arexvy in pregnancy.
Incorrect vaccine for indication, e.g. Shingrix instead of Varilrix for prevention of chicken pox.
Shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA).
Incorrect interval between vaccine doses.
Administration of expired vaccines.
Refusal by some GP clinics to administer a vaccine stored in the patient’s refrigerator.

PDL tips to prevent incidents

Before administration of vaccine:

Avoid dealing with multiple patients requiring a vaccine at once.
Ensure administration of the vaccine is within your scope of practice, and access the PDL Scope of Practice Checklist.
Confirm patient identity as per the PDL Supplement to Guide to Good Dispensing.
Check the AIR prior to administering a vaccine.
Check patient eligibility including age, indication, precautions/contraindications and pregnancy status.
Check the expiry of vaccines.
Verbally confirm the expected vaccine with the patient/parent/carer using open-ended questions. For example, “As part of my checking process, please confirm which vaccine you expect to receive today?”.

Other tips:

Always follow clinical guidance from ATAGI and the Australian Immunisation Handbook.
Display vaccination placement diagram, NIP funded influenza vaccines by age group table and the COVID-19 vaccines in Australia poster in the consult room for easy reference.
When supplying vaccines on prescription for patients to take to their GP or nurse, ensure they are aware of the possibility of GP clinics refusing to administer vaccines stored in home refrigerators. Offer to store the vaccine in the pharmacy’s vaccine fridge if they are not going directly to the clinic.
Consider offering a reduced service or re-scheduling appointments during staff shortages.

AIR update

The AIR has introduced new warning messages for some influenza and RSV vaccines to improve data quality. Ensure immunisation records are uploaded as soon as possible to assist with prompt identification of potential incidents.