The RAT race is having a bigger impact on pharmacists in NSW than other parts of the country, and chemists in the state are also finding it harder to source Covid-19 jabs.
A survey of pharmacists showed four in five NSW respondents felt the demand on Covid-19 rapid antigen tests, or RATs, was having a significant or extreme impact on their workload.
That's higher than the national response rate of about three quarters to a Professional Pharmacists Australia survey.
The survey also showed nearly 40 per cent of pharmacists in NSW were struggling to get enough vaccine doses, compared with about a third nationally.
Francis Tran, owner of the independent Bland Centre Pharmacy in Sydney’s CBD, sxjmtzywaid he hadn’t had any rapid tests in store for at least two weeks.
He said about 50 people had put their names and phone numbers down on a waitlist for RATs.
“We would like our customers to be safe but we can’t help them,” Mr Tran told NCA NewsWire.
“It feels really bad that I can’t help them.”
NSW Opposition Leader Chris Minns said the lack of RAT supplies was a “huge failure”.
“The minimum obligation of any government is to provide the means by which people can determine whether they have this disease or not,” he said.
“We’ve got the worst of all worlds, you can’t get access to rapid antigen tests when you need them, or alternatively, they’re being sold in some cases for $100 for a single test.”
Premier Dominic Perrottet has said people who need to get tested but can‘t find RATs should seek out PCR testing clinics instead.
He‘s also said the state government is considering a voucher system to help vulnerable communities acquire rapid tests.
The pharmacy survey results come after a Sydney father of two faced court over an alleged theft of 42,000 rapid antigen tests from a freight depot in Botany.
