I have a very simple message for the federal Department of Health and Aged Care: primary healthcare nurses are more than capable of vaccinating patients against COVID-19, flu and other infectious diseases without needing a GP to ‘supervise’ them.

The current Medicare item billing rules that require a doctor to be present when nurses administer vaccines are arcane — and even have the potential to put patients at risk.

Take the ridiculous situation last year when a solo doctor in rural NSW came within hours of cancelling clinics for nearly 1000 COVID-19 vaccinations.

This was at the height of the pandemic and would have meant large swathes of the local population being left unvaccinated.