Many pharmacists around New Zealand are still waiting for rapid antigen tests to arrive, despite ordering them before the cut off period ahead of borders opening on Wednesday.
Hundreds of pharmacies have opted to do the Government-subsidised tests for asymptomatic, unvaccinated travellers aged over 12, but they require training, a system login and the rapid antigen tests (RATs).
The Government announced on December 9 that rapid antigen tests will be free from some community pharmacies throughout the country until the end of January 2022 to meet domestic travel requirements.
People crossing the Auckland border or those travelling domestically with companies such as Air New Zealand will either have to show their vaccine pass or present a negative Covid-19 test within 72 hours of travelling.
Air New Zealand say rapid antigen tests will be accepted by the airline.
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said as of Tuesday morning, "around 600 community pharmacies across the motu have opted in to provide supervised rapid antigen testing and have had tests dispatched to them".
"Of these around 217 are community pharmacies in the Auckland area."
But approximately 150 of these pharmacies only opted in yesterday, the ministry says, so "they may not have received their tests for tomorrow given the order cut-off times have now passed".
Many pharmacies 1News spoke to around the country said they ordered the tests last week, but they had not been delivered yet and some pharmacists had not been able to do the required training for the system designed to upload customer's results.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday that unvaccinated people planning to travel need to get to a pharmacy to get a test, given some vehicles will be stopped.
“There will be compliance checks, not everyone, but be prepared," she said.
“For those who are unvaccinated, we are asking you to ensure that you’ve got proof of a negative test within 72 hours prior to travelling. If you haven’t done that yet, pop to a pharmacy – they’ll be providing rapid antigen tests – you’ll get a result within 15 minutes and you can carry proof of that result with you,” Ardern said.
Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall announced on November 25 that the tests would be available to the general public at pharmacies from December 15, "with tests to be administered under the supervision of pharmacy staff".
Many Auckland pharmacies still waiting for RATs
Auckland pharmacies appear to be the worst-affected by delivery delays. None of the 23 that 1News spoke to had any stock yet, most saying they had ordered on Friday, but pharmacies in Hamilton, Hawke's Bay, Timaru and Blenheim did.
Lambs Pharmacy in central Auckland said "nothing has turned up and we have already had people asking" about the tests.
An East Auckland pharmacist told 1News she didn't know what to tell her customers.
"It’s kind of all over the place, now we are getting calls from patients, we don’t even know what to tell people."
"It’s all on Healthpoint that the tests are out but when we spoke to them [the Ministry of Health], they said there would be slight delays," she said.
Pharmacies will be using a system called Eclair to upload results, but some pharmacists haven't had the training or are yet to receive a login to the system.
A pharmacist from Taradale in Hawke's Bay said the system had been rolled out at "the busiest time of year".
"As with a lot of processes with Covid, it’s been rolled out quickly and not always communicated well. We only found we were doing it on the news," she said.
Checkpoints will still operate for travellers in and out of Auckland and Northland, the latter, the only region in the country which will remain at Red in the traffic light system from December 31.
A Whangārei pharmacist said she has bookings for people wanting to travel through the border but no RATs in stock.
"We have no time to prepare, and have had literally so many phone calls today and we have no stock," she said.
The pharmacy is set to have its webinar training on Tuesday night.
"It would have been helpful if the training was organised a lot earlier and the orders were placed earlier - keeping us in the loop before they announced it to the public," the pharmacist said.
In Otago, a local pharmacist told 1News he did not have a login to the system, adding he had only had the training Monday night "so I am just digesting the material".
He said some customers are booked to fly over the weekend and he’s hoping the stock arrives in time.
National’s Covid-19 Response spokesperson, Chris Bishop told 1News it was a “real scramble”.
“What I’m hearing is that there is enormous frustration from pharmacists who are not being able to get access to the tests, not being able to use the tests properly, it all seems to have come together at the last minute, very, very suddenly.
“Really what we are seeing is a lack of planning by the Government for this Auckland border reopening.
“It’s not good enough that on the eve of the Auckland border reopening people are struggling to get access to these rapid antigen tests and pharmacists are struggling to access the system as well," Bishop said.
Ministry of Health responds
The Ministry of Health told 1News two million rapid antigen tests were ordered and arrived in New Zealand on December 8 as part of preparations for the rollout to community pharmacies to meet demands for testing requirements.
Order cut offs to ensure that tests were at the pharmacies in time for the 'go live' on Wednesday were staggered throughout last week, but went through to Friday for the upper North Island.
"We are also reliant on couriers who are very busy in the rush immediately prior to the Christmas period which may account for delays," a ministry spokesperson said.
"The Ministry has worked at pace with representatives from the pharmacy sector (Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand, Green Cross Health and the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand, Maori Pharmacists’ Association and Pacific Pharmacists’ Association) and DHBs to operationalise supervised rapid antigen testing to the community from tomorrow, 15 December."
"These sector groups have worked collaboratively to develop and agree the funding model, supply chains, training material and other collateral to support pharmacies and the community on processes for the use of rapid antigen testing, and guidance to help individuals make decisions on whether it’s appropriate for their use.
"We are pleased with the uptake by community pharmacies in the very short space of time since the announcement by Minister Verrall on 25 November to the operationalisation of supervised rapid antigen testing from tomorrow.
"While the Ministry strongly recommends that rapid antigen testing be used for unvaccinated domestic travellers, PCR tests are also available for this purpose. Our advice has been for unvaccinated individuals wishing to leave Auckland or travel across the motu to plan their travel carefully to allow sufficient time to get tested and receive their result, especially for those leaving on 15 December.
A spokesperson for Associate Health Minister Ayesha Verrall said as of Tuesday morning, 600 pharmacies have opted into supporting RATs and have had tests dispatched to them.
"However note that as approximately 150 of these pharmacies opted in yesterday they may not receive their tests for tomorrow given the order cut-off times have now passed," they said.
RATs are free of charge to those who are unvaccinated between December 15 and January 31, but customers need to book in to have a test. Results will be via text message or individuals can also request a hard copy from the pharmacy.
Pharmacists have told 1News they will be paid $45 per test.
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