Australia’s failure to stockpile a commonly used chemical reagent needed for COVID-19 testing is contributing to shortages amid the pandemic, doctors have said.
The Australian Medical Association has said that a common reagent that is critical in the testing of coronavirus is facing supply issues because of the huge demand on Australian laboratories due to COVID-19.
Chemical reagents are used to extract nucleic acids from swabs taken from potential coronavirus patients, a critical step in confirming the presence of the virus.
The reagent is not specific to coronavirus and is used in testing for a range of illnesses, including other types of influenza, the association said.
Australia has “very variable stocking” of the reagent across different states and territories, said Chris Moy, the association’s president in South Australia.
That has left some jurisdictions facing supply issues, but others well-prepared, he said.
South Australia was singled out for praise. It has spent the past decade “carefully” stockpiling a supply of the reagent, something Moy said was a complex and difficult task.
“You need this reagent to do the test,” Moy told reporters, speaking from a clinic where he is testing potential coronavirus patients.
“There’s probably two issues at the moment. Firstly, there has been very variable stocking by the state pathology services of this,” he said.
“The other reason why there is a bit of a burn-through ... there is still a proportion of the ‘worried well’ getting tested. The problem with that is the criteria for testing keeps changing,” he added.
Moy said the problem again showed the need for the establishment of a nationally coordinated disease control authority, similar to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“It just shows again that dealing with a pandemic, which is a state thing, can’t rely on jurisdictional inconsistencies, and also that dealing with a pandemic is a practical, not a theoretical, issue. That’s why the [association] has been calling for a center for disease control to coordinate responses,” Moy said.
Australia is hardly alone in facing strain on its supply of reagent.
Last week, US Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said that he was “aware of pressure in the supply system on the reagents” needed in coronavirus testing.
The agency was working 24/7 to address the problem and was seeking to supply laboratories with reagent alternatives, he said.
Grattan Institute health program director Stephen Duckett, a former Australian secretary of health, said that Australian officials had known for weeks that testing supply issues would arise.
“Were there estimates of demand?” he asked. “At the moment they are still basically saying we can’t meet demand. We can only test those who have very clear symptoms.”
Australian Department of Health Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly yesterday told a news conference that there was no issue with supply of the kits themselves.
He said the supply issues with “consumables” were rapidly emerging, but not surprising.
“There are some issues in relation to some of the consumables around the tests. That’s a global issue,” he said. “As you can imagine, there’s a lot of testing going on. All of those 160,000 people that we have definite diagnoses on have had at least one test.”
Moy said the Australian government’s decision to bring private laboratories into the testing regime would help alleviate the pressure, as would stricter and more consistent criteria for who can be tested.
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