Australians will be able to do rapid antigen tests by the end of the week at chemist warehouses in the country due to a supply crunch.
Chemist Warehouse’s chief operating officer Mario Tascon told Sunrise that relief is finally in sight, predicting that ‘we will have a very good supply by the end of the week and early next week’.
“With planes arriving every day, we have stock due in Sydney stores this afternoon, and we expect to refill our Victorian, Queensland, Tasmanian and South Australian stores later tomorrow,” he said.
Chemist warehouse boss Mario Tascon says the federal government should cut GST on rapid antigen tests to make the kits more affordable for sick Australians.
Mr Tascon said the reason for the delay was ‘back-to-back public holidays’.
“It’s a challenge, how much to order with these rapid antigen tests, because it’s not like setting up a magic warehouse with its stockpile,” he said.
‘There is usually a gap of three weeks from order to supply, which is the problem with us.
‘When everyone finds out it’s getting out of control, everyone has got orders, but they have to be manufactured first, so by the time they get to Australia, there’s a delay.
‘But there’s no point in looking backwards, it’s about moving forward and putting the stock in everyone’s hands.’
On Monday Mr Tascon urged Scott Morrison to cut VAT on rapid tests to cut the price by 10 per cent.
‘I’m sure they can go on Zoom and run an emergency session of Parliament because the government thought that a 10 percent discount from millions and millions of packets from the sale of rapid antigen tests didn’t really fit,’ He told 2GB.
Demand for tests around Australia has seen single kits sell for up to $100 – many chemists unable to re-order stock
The emergence of the highly infectious Omicron variant has resulted in the cost of rapid testing as high as $100 per unit, with COVID cases skyrocketing across Australia.
A BP station in Edgecliff, east Sydney, was caught selling a test – which usually costs between $10 – $30.
On Monday, NSW recorded 20,794 new Covid cases and four deaths, Victoria’s tally hit 8,577 infections and Queensland saw 4,249 as strains ripped through the east coast.
Mr Tascon said the federal government needed to ensure sick Australians had easy and affordable access to rapid testing.
‘They really need to be as affordable as possible,’ he told 2GB.
The director of Chemist Warehouse said the demand for RAT, similar to hoarding of toilet paper at the start of the pandemic, was ‘unprecedented’, and added that dropping GST would show immediate results.
“They’ll get 10 percent cheaper overnight, we’ll reduce the price, it’s not much, but a $50 pack of five becomes $45 overnight,” he said.
‘So that’s one thing they can do immediately, obviously it needs a meeting of Parliament.
Mr Tascon said the federal government needed to do more to ensure sick Australians have easy and affordable access to rapid testing
The UK government has mailed free rapid tests to people’s homes since April, but the PM has refused to adopt a similar model in Australia for fear of cost.
Chemist Warehouse customers can purchase only two Rapid Antigen Test Packs at a time to ensure that they are available to all.
“When you have 25 million people who want a rapid antigen test within a week, that’s impossible,” he said.
UK government Free rapid tests have been mailed to people’s homes since April but the PM has refused to adopt a similar model in Australia for fear of cost.
Instead, rapid tests are free at testing centers but cost at least $10 per swab at pharmacies and supermarkets, which are short in stock due to a lack of supply.
Members of a public queue in their cars for a COVID-19 PCR test at the Mascot Laverty Pathology Drive-Thru Clinic in Sydney on Monday
Several medical experts called for accelerated testing to be free for all, including infectious disease specialist Robert Boye of the University of Sydney, who said free testing could ‘make a real difference in controlling the disease’.
But in an interview at Sunrise on Monday morning, the prime minister said it was a bad idea.
‘We are now in the second phase of this pandemic where we can’t just go round and do everything for free. We have to live with this virus. This is not a medicine, it is a test. And so there is a difference between those two things,” he said.
Australia’s gross debt is expected to reach a record $1.2 trillion by 2024-25 after huge pandemic spending, including $100 billion on the Jobkeeper Wage Subsidy Scheme.
The prime minister, keen to avoid further cost pitfalls, said on Monday that he would like to ‘take that pressure off the budget’.
But Mr Morrison said he was working with states and territories to reduce prices for vulnerable groups with “discounted access for pensioners and others”.
The cost of subsidizing the tests will be shared 50/50 with the states and territories.
Mr Morrison also said he would not make the tests free because he did not want to prevent private companies from ordering them so they could make money.
A Brisbane resident prepares for tests on Sunday
“Private markets, whether it’s in large warehouse pharmacies or other pharmacies or supermarkets, can now go and stock their shelves with the confidence that they won’t be curtailed by the government,” he told the Today show.
Groups representing manufacturers and suppliers of rapid antigen tests said the industry-backed test is free for all.
“The industry has no position because we sell at market value to the government and we don’t care whether they are free or not,” said Dean Whiting, chief executive of Pathology Technology Australia. Guardian Australia,
Woolworths has denied lobbying against the free trials, while Coles declined to comment.
Professor of epidemiology at the University of NSW, Mary-Louise MacLaw, warned in a series of tweets that rapid testing is becoming reserved for the ‘privileged and wealthy’, adding that governments need to reconsider their current stance. the wanted.
‘To reduce costs, testing centers can use PCR on people with symptoms and Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) on all others. Cheap but effective nonetheless,’ Professor MacLaw tweeted on Sunday.
‘Without providing free RATs to households, only the privileged and wealthy would be able to protect themselves and mitigate the widespread risk of spread.
Mr Morrison’s comments also sparked outrage from political opponents who called for a free trial.
Independent Senator Rex Patrick wrote on Twitter: ‘The case for a comprehensive free RAT is clear, but Scott Morrison says ‘you can’t make everything free’. They said no to big business because they took billions of dollars in jobkeeper money they didn’t need.’
Australia’s biggest trade union boss Sally McManus also slammed the PM, writing: ‘What is the cost of people’s health?’
Australians are still prepared to conduct large numbers of tests. Image: A test queue at Mascot near the center of Sydney