Nearly 4,000 eligible community pharmacies across Australia can join the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination rollout, from Monday next week.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison made the announcement on Thursday in a bid to ramp up the nation’s vaccination rate.

Currently there are 81 pharmacies across the remote and rural areas of Western Australia that are administering the jab.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch Director, Andrew Ngeow, says those numbers are about to jump.

“When the federal government put out the expressions of interest earlier on this year, there were 512 in Western Australia who were deemed to be suitable and they’re all ready to go,” he told Perth LIVE’s Oliver Peterson.

Mr Ngeow believes there are plenty of AstraZeneca doses to go around.

“We are also seeing an increase in supply of the Pfizer vaccine coming to the country and the sooner they get us the Pfizer or the Moderna into community pharmacies, the faster we can get this rollout really happening,” he said.

Each pharmacy will give patients the choice of either of a walk vaccination or a book in.

The federal government has been slammed for it’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout, and Mr Ngeow say the answer is simple.

“We either lockdown or we get people vaccinated, and option two is by far our best option,” he said.

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