Here’s Who Is Eligible For Free RATs And How You Can Claim Them
6.6 million people are now eligible for free tests.
Millions of Australians will be eligible for free rapid antigen tests (RATs) from today as part of Australia’s lacklustre response to the Omicron outbreak. That is, however, if you can actually get your hands on a test.
So who exactly is eligible, and how do you get a free test?
Who Is Eligible For Free RATs?
An estimated 6.6 million people will be eligible for free RATs as part of the new programme. Those eligible can receive up to ten tests for free within a three month period, but it’s worth noting you can only receive one test at a time — which means you won’t be able to grab all ten in one run to the local chemist.
People on the following concession cards will be able to access the programme from today:
- A healthcare card
- A low-income card
- A pension concession card
- DVA gold card
- DVA white card
How Can I Actually Get A Free RAT?
Those eligible will be able to pick up a test from their local chemist. Due to stock shortages — and the flawed system in which it is the pharmacy’s own responsibility to source the tests — you’ll likely have more luck at a bigger chemist chain.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia told the Sydney Morning Herald that the rollout has incited a Hunger Games-type situation.
“It’s just gone all Hunger Games on us,” Pharmacy Guild president Trent Twomey told the SMH. “The reality is, the bigger the buying power, the more power you have in a supply chain and the better positioned you are to acquire stock.”
The Pharmacy Guild has set up a searchable database — Find A Pharmacy — that should allow you to input your postcode and find participating chemists near you. However, at the time of publishing, the website does not load any data. It is unclear if this is a malfunction on the website, or if stock levels are yet to be updated.
According to Twomey, the website will be updated twice daily.
“That will be updated twice a day with the pharmacies that do and don’t have stock,” he told the SMH. “Before you waste your time putting your kids in the car and driving around, check the website before you go and pop into your pharmacy.”