Australia’s peak pharmacy body is urging Queenslanders not to stockpile rapid antigen tests (RAT) amid shortages in the state’s largest regional centres.
Key points:
- The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is warning against stockpiling rapid tests
- Shortages across the state have cleaned out pharmacists
- Prices and demand are set to ease in the coming weeks
Prices are surging and supply is dwindling around the state according to the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) after the state government announced a shift in testing requirements.
Those entering Queensland are no longer required to provide a negative PCR test to enter the state, but instead can now return a negative RAT.
But many Queenslanders are also purchasing the tests as Omicron rapidly spreads across the state.
Regional Queensland pharmacists say they are battling their busiest time of year while coping with the short supply of the tests across the regions.
‘Volatile’ situation to ease
Chief Health Officer Dr John Gerrard said there was a “very substantial number” of RATs headed for Queensland after earlier admitting they were “difficult” to obtain.
PGA’s national president Trent Twomey said RAT supply is exceptionally volatile due to demand, but also price.
“It’s not just the actual quantity of the rapid antigen test landing in pharmacies that is unpredictable. It’s also the price that they’re landing in our pharmacies for,” he said.
On the Gold Coast, pharmacies reported selling out “within days” but said more stock was expected to hit the shelves by next week.
Costs change across the state
Most single tests on the Gold Coast cost $15.
Pharmacists around the Sunshine Coast told the ABC customers had been calling “every five minutes” seeking RATs.
In Imbil, tests were $7.95 a few weeks ago but had recently increased to about $11.
In Mackay there are also shortages with prices ranging from a five-pack for $70 or a two-pack for about $24.
Mr Twomey said price disparities arise because pharmacists were paying different wholesale costs.
“Some are manufactured in Australia, but the majority of them are imported from overseas from three locations — the United States, China, and Germany,” Mr Twomey said.
Toilet paper repeat?
Mr Twomey urged residents that “common sense and cool heads” should prevail when it came to stockpiling tests.
“We do have a little bit of a sense that it is similar to toilet paper,” he said.
Mr Twomey said the guild was working with the Commonwealth government on a “hybrid system” where government-funded RATs would be available for health care and concession card holders.
“Then there’ll be the free market for the rest of us,” he said.
“Now that we’ve got that national consistency the market will respond.
“It’ll just take us a couple of weeks to settle down into what is the new COVID normal.”
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