A pharmacy leader wants more clarity from the government about when people will be able to purchase rapid antigen tests.
Rapid antigen tests are due to be sold to the public some time in March. Photo: 123RF
Rapid antigen tests have become the primary method of testing for people in phase three of the Covid-19 response.
Many pharmacies have stocks of the tests but these are earmarked for priority groups who get them for free.
Pharmacies want the government to spell out when anyone who wants to can buy a test.
Pharmacy Guild chief executive Andrew Gaudin told Morning Report supply chain pressures will put huge logistical pressure on businesses to receive and sell stock due to public demand.
"We're finding across our membership that nine out of ten people coming into pharmacies, they're wanting to get a test for personal use. They'll be asymptomatic, probably vaccinated but they don't meet the criteria [for a free test].
''...It might be for work reasons or it might be peace of mind to visit an elderly relative. So there's plenty of people coming in asking questions and that demand at the moment can't be met."
Gaudin said pharmacies were eager to help with the sale of RATs so they could assist with limiting the spread of Omicron.
However, getting the stock in would be the challenge.
"It's the logistics and timeframes, there's a lot of pressure on supply chains. This retail scheme starts from March - we're not quite sure what date at this stage. We'll obviously be talking with officials to get that detail as soon as we can."
Orders would need to be placed and once supplies arrived from overseas they would need to be distributed around the country.
Gaudin agreed tests should remain free for critical workers, those in the priority population and unvaccinated travellers.
"So there's quite a good provision for the publicly funded so it's probably the unmet demand that's in question here."
Pharmacies were already providing advice on their use and once more stock arrives they would carry on this work for the wider public, Gaudin said.
'Plenty of tests' to support Omicron response - Bloomfield
Over the past two days, 5.2 million RATs arrived in the country, with a further 10m coming this weekend.
Director-General of Health Ashley Bloomfield said these tests "are for use as part of our ongoing public health response".
"The ones that people will be able to buy in pharmacies and other places are ones that the private sector will be making available, that they'll be importing themselves."
People can access a test from a range of outlets, he said.
Those who need a test if they are symptomatic or a contact can get one through a community testing centre, he said, and increasingly from GPs and a range of other places.
"There will be plenty of rapid antigen tests available to support the response."
Most people who have the coronavirus will have symptoms so they will be able to access a test, he said.
The rapid antigen tests, just as with PCR tests, are just one part of the protection against Covid-19, he said.
Dr Ashley Bloomfield says people with coronavirus will be able to access some form of test. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
However, Chris Bishop, the National Party's Covid-19 response spokesperson and a staunch critic of the government procurement of tests, said there are not enough RATs in the country now with only 13 million ordered late last year.
They should have been available in pharmacies and supermarkets from the beginning of this year, he said.
"You've got businesses calling out for them who still can't get them and you've got schools and school teachers and principals desperate for them."
He referred to a social media post he had seen this week in which a teacher was trying to swap a jar of jam for a rapid antigen test.
The president of the college of GPs Dr Samantha Murton said the switch to the use of rapid antigen tests will be more time-consuming for GPs because the result comes through in a few minutes instead of from a lab.
"For everyone it's tricky to suddenly change and do a different process and so this is a process issue that we have to get running smoothly and that takes a bit of time."
Higher number of cases
Bloomfield agreed with epidemiologists that it's possible the true spread of Covid-19 is much greater than the number of cases being reported.
"I know [epidemiologist] Tony Blakely from Melbourne is suggesting it's about four times that number.
"Wider use of rapid antigen tests will help us get a much greater sense of what the actual case numbers are out there, but as we know and the data overseas and ours confirms that about a third of people won't have any symptoms, so they may not get a test.
"So there may be more out there."
