COVID Vaccine – Request for Tender (RFT) Process

Dear Members

Thank you to all who joined in the meeting today in relation to the Covid-19 ‘Workplace Vaccination Webinar – Nurse Practitioners.’ Your voice is vitally important, and we would like to say thank you for taking the time to be involved, listen, ask questions, and raise your concerns. Unfortunately, we had little time to prepare, ACNP learned about this only yesterday afternoon, so your attendance really was appreciated.

We would also like to say how proud we are of your continual advocacy for your patients and the community. Throughout this pandemic, Nurse Practitioners have remained determined to ensure the care of their patients and the community, is their number one priority. Today, this was evident again in the questions our members put forward to the webinar meeting panel. Thank you.

From the meeting today, the ACNP understands:  

• The Request for Tender (RFT) document will be made publicly available to view as early as next Monday, we will advise our members when it is released, and how to find it
• Nurse Practitioners will need to have an ABN to apply
• The Covid vaccine(s) that Nurse Practitioners (who fit the specific criteria in the RFT) will be able to deliver are Pfizer and Moderna vaccines (once available)
• This RFT process is a completely separate funding model to the MBS. The DHHS today could not give us any detail on the funding arrangement, and will not until the RFT is made publicly available
• The RFT will address the insurance concerns regarding delivering the Covid vaccine
• The DHHS expects this program will be in place at least 12 months
• The purpose of the RFT is to provide more avenues of administration as supply of the Covid vaccine allows.

We would like to encourage you to review the RFT when made available, to determine if the RFT process outlined is suitable for you and your practice. We will provide members with the slides from the meeting as soon as they are made available.   

Finally, this is NOT the outcome that the ACNP had hoped for. We had hoped today’s meeting would have outlined a ‘simplified’ process ensuring that all Nurse Practitioners could participate in the vaccine rollout. The ACNP firmly believes the Government would have greater success of getting the vaccine out to people, if they engaged with the peak bodies involved. As I understand it, other peaks have been involved in developing prior RFTs, however in this case, that has not occurred. Despite ACNP attending regular COVID related meetings, there was no consultation with the ACNP during the preparation of this RFT, and we were not told it was planned. Once again, providing us with no avenue for feedback. In our opinion this exclusion has got to stop, it would not be tolerated by other health professions.

We will be in touch with members once the RFT is available, and the ACNP will endeavour to assist members in understanding what this process may mean in greater detail.

Warm regards

Leanne Boase

ACNP President