One of the Tasmania's pandemic heroes has received a well-deserved national award.
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North West Regional Hospital medicines supply manager Luke Corbett was named the 2021 Society of Hospital Pharmacists Association Australian Pharmacy Technician of the Year.
His nomination was for the vital role he played as acting operations and logistics manager for the Tasmanian Health Service, responsible for organising and coordinating the supply, storage, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines across Tasmania's four public hospitals.
He was also recognised for training staff to assist in storing and distributing the vaccines when everyone was still on a steep learning curve about what temperature the Pfizer vaccines could be held at and figuring out how to transport the vials and keep them cold enough that none got wasted.
He oversaw a massive task in uncertain unprecedented times.
Mr Corbett said he was humbled by the award and a bit uncomfortable with the attention.
"It was a surprise; I did not expect it," he said.
"I've grown up playing team sports and I feel very humbled."
He said he worked closely with the pharmacy site manager at the Royal Hobart Hospital, who consulted with his contacts overseas who already rolled out vaccine programs.
"That helped us immensely to get some insight on what we needed to get ready," he said.
"We had dummy eskies and dummy vials made up a month before we received any vaccines.
"All the hospital sites were practicing in dry ice to see how cold it would be before they arrived and had safety mechanisms in place even down to how big the vials were going to be and how big the trays were.
"It was thanks to the local pizza shop that was able to provide us with small pizza boxes the same size as the trays the vials came in.
"We could use the pizza boxes and dummy vials to practice with and make sure we had our timeframes sorted before the real thing turned up.
"The vaccines had to be kept cold, and we had minimal time to transfer them from one temperature to another.
"The vials got transported to us in thermal shippers, and we had about 90 seconds to two minutes to unpack them and put the vials in the fridge."
Mr Corbett said he got a call one night to procure 12 vaccine fridges for the state by 9.30 am the next day.
"That was a whirlwind, and many calls later, we had an agreement for 12 by the deadline and could set them up in all our locations," he said.
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Public interest in the vaccine rollout was high, which meant those involved were under an intense spotlight.
"We were accountable for every dose that came in, and there was a lot of pressure on our immunising colleagues not to waste any," he said.
Mr Corbett said those involved in the vaccine rollout got on with the job despite the pressure.
"It was head down and get on with it because this needs to get done but reaching out to people if you need help.
"I am forever grateful to my family for understanding the time commitment the role required."
Mr Corbett said he was aware of the community uncertainty about the new vaccines and the fact the virus changed so rapidly.
"I had people I knew who had the negative connotation to the vaccine, but I knew I had a job to do," he said.
"My job was to action what the health experts said and what my colleagues put in front of me.
"I thought back to the 2020 outbreak (in the North-West) and how that affected my family and me in lockdown for two weeks.
"The vaccine rollout for me was an opportunity to rectify that, helping my community by helping to provide a solution, so it didn't happen again."