Tasmania has a stockpile of two different antiviral pill products which are sitting in the Royal Hobart Hospital Pharmacy.
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The antiviral medications greatly reduces the risk of someone infected with COVID-19 from dying or being hospitalised from the disease, and are one of several antiviral medications being developed across the globe.
Australian Health Minister Greg Hunt said Australia had secured 15,000 doses of antibody-based therapy Ronapreve, 500,000 courses of Pfizer's antiviral, and 300,000 courses of MERCK antiviral pill.
Tasmanian Public Health secretary Katherine Morgan-Wicks said supplies of two medications had been received from the Commonwealth for use in Tasmania.
"In terms of the national stockpile of either antiviral or anti-covid vaccines, we work together with the Commonwealth. We already have two of the products in our Royal Hobart Hospital pharmacy in stockpile and ready," she said.
"We will work with the Commonwealth in relation to any new medications that they purchase."
Pharmacy Guild of Australia state president Helen O'Byrne said pharmacies hoped the drugs would eventually become available from pharmacies to increase accessibility to the life-saving medications.
She said the medications were similar to the oral antiviral flu medication Tamiflu, which if given within the first 72 hours of first symptoms can help reduce severity and length of the flu.
"We are hoping COVID-19 anti virals will be on the PBS [Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme] so will be available through GPs, but we are even hoping that it will be scheduled so anyone can access through a pharmacy," she said.
"We think, considering that COVID-19 will become endemic, and might be very widespread, that it might be wise to make it available directly from pharmacies, considering that accessibility to GPS in Tasmania is at times difficult."
"Even though you are vaccinated you are still able to contract the virus. Because Tasmania hasn't had an outbreak yet we don't know how it will affect the population, but there will be some people who will get severe symptoms, and if they are experiencing serious symptoms, then they should get access to the antiviral."
The antiviral medication Ronapreve is administered intravenously and will most likely be used for un-vaccinated COVID-19 patients, to reduce death by 70 per cent.
The Pfizer antiviral will be taken every 12 hours over five days, which will reduce severity of the disease, but has yet to be receive necessary approval. This is expected in 2022.
The MERCK pill has been found to reduce death by half.
