Locals have been flocking to Mount Isa pharmacies in the hope to buy the newly available Rapid Antigen Test, but have been met with empty shelves.

The North West Star spoke to Pharmacy First professional services manager Cathryn Carlisle to discuss the lack of RATs in the North West.

"We are still waiting on our next shipment with baited breath, so we are ready to roll that out as soon as it arrives into store," Ms Carlisle said.

"The tricky thing with these orders is we express our need for stock before the stock is secured, so we don't know how much we are going to get.

"We are focused on getting the TGA (Therapeutic Goods Administration) approved tests to make sure our customers can get the most accurate results."

Ms Carlisle said locals were coming in daily attempting to buy the Rapid Antigen Test kits.

"I definitely think our community needs these tests, it is really tricky though because I am sure every pharmacy in the country is saying the same thing," she said.

"The government had trouble securing these tests, so we are experiencing the flow on effects from that unfortunately.

"I think government and local council are expressing how badly we need them out here and pushing for it."

Meanwhile Pharmacy First have been busy conducting booster vaccines, which was reduced to three months after your second vaccine over the weekend.

"The majority of our bookings at the moment are booster shots," Ms Carlisle said.

"It's a lot easier for those who have had, for example, Pfizer to have another Pfizer booster shot, however there is definitely choice between Pfizer and Moderna.

"We've had locals coming in and asking about that decision and if they don't have a preference we default to Moderna, as the data shows it has a slightly higher level of cover in conjunction with other vaccinations."

With the protein vaccine NovaVax being newly approved by the TGA, Ms Carlisle said many were waiting for that vaccine to be available before getting vaccinated.

"I think there are people still holding out for the NovaVax vaccine, however we are still seeing a steady flow of first vaccinations coming through," she said.

"Last year we were one of the first community pharmacies to conduct the vaccine roll out. We started with AstraZeneca and then we picked up Pfizer an Moderna and we have expressed our interest to have NovaVax as well.

"Thankfully all our expressions of interest have been met, so we hop to get that as well as soon as possible."

With no estimated time of arrival, Pharmacy First said they would update the community on NovaVax and RATs on their social media pages when they become available.

Ms Carlisle said they were still available to help those in the community who were experiencing COVID-19 symptoms.

"Firstly if you are experiencing symptoms, stay at home and isolate from other members of the family," she said.

"Depending on their circumstance they may be eligible for a PCR test, if not we can assist by supplying pain relief and medication.

"If you give us a phone call, you can order and pay over the phone. Upon collection remain in your car, call us and we will bring your order out to you, put it on the bonnet of your car and step back to make sure you receive your order.

However if you do not have a personal vehicle there are some people in the community like "Tonka" who are running a delivery service and we are referring people to him."

As of 7pm on January 23, the total COVID-19 cases in the North West Hospital and Health Service was 734.

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