And in a scenario that could make the tests even more difficult to come by, pharmacies may be forced to supply free RAT kits to eligible concession and health card holders out of their own supplies and apply to the government to be reimbursed.

On Monday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed government supplies of rapid antigen tests would not be issued to pharmacies, contrary to what many believed.

"Pharmacies were under the impression that the Federal Government would be allocating stock they have ordered directly to us pharmacies. This would have meant that pharmacies would have received stock around the same time making it easier for the community (if they hold a concessional card) to know when they could start collecting them. But this is not the case," Bannockburn Pharmacy wrote in a Facebook post.

"Instead we have been informed the Federal Government expect pharmacies to source their own RATs to give away to concessional card holders and then somehow the government will reimburse us to cover our cost of buying them. Pharmacies still haven't been informed how this will occur.

"Pharmacies across Australia have orders placed, but like us, we all don't know exactly when we will receive our orders and if our orders can be supplied in full. Because pharmacies were under the impression we would be receiving stock directly from the Federal Government, means now pharmacies have to go back to suppliers to increase our orders and we don't know when and if these increased orders will be fulfilled."

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian president Anthony Tassone said the Guild was working closely with the government to finalise details of the subsidised rapid antigen testing scheme and hoped to have the plan in place in the coming days.

It comes as the state government changed close contact isolation requirements for Victorians working in the manufacturing, distribution or packaging of food and beverages, including retail supermarket workers who, from 11.59pm Wednesday, will be allowed to continue to attend work if they are asymptomatic, undertake daily RATs for five days, and return a negative result prior to attending work.

They also cannot enter shared break areas and must wear a face covering, using N95/P2 respirators if possible.

Further visitor will also be applied to hospitals and aged care settings - reflecting the vulnerable nature of patients and residents in these facilities.

Residents at aged care centres will continue to be permitted up to five visitors per day, but visitors must return a negative RAT result before entering. If no RATs are available at the facility, residents will be permitted no more than two visitors.

Visitors in hospitals must have received two doses of the vaccine or must return a negative RAT result before entering. Adult visitors who are not fully vaccinated must wear an N95 mask during their visit.

UFS pharmacies operations manager Peter Fell said UFS had received a small allocation of rapid tests last week which were shared around the stores and sold out within an hour or two.

"We've got literally tens of thousands on order and have had for quite some time," he said. "The manufacturers are in much the same boat as we are in terms of staffing. They can't get warehouse staff to pick and pack product, and after that the freight company struggles with staff for travel and delivery demand to actually ship it.

"We are still hopeful we might see some this week, but now they are not even trying to give an anticipated drop date, which in the past has been pretty reliable ... so it's a day to day proposition."

Staff testing positive to COVID or isolating as close household contacts has meant some of the UFS pharmacies have closed because there were not enough employees to open.

It means they have decided not to take on "discretionary work" like pediatric vaccinations because they just don't have a "stable, predictable workforce".

"The last thing we want to do is offer clinics, book them up and have to cancel," he said. The adult booster program is continuing, but scaled back.

"It's been crazy every since people realised that COVID really is in Ballarat," Mr Fell said. "We got to a point where we had to adapt our phone message service. Stores couldn't ring out because the phone wouldn't stop ringing long enough for them to dial out, with people inquiring about rapid antigen tests and vaccine bookings. It's a positive thing that people are wanting to be proactive."

The Pharmacy Guild's Mr Tassone said just under 300 pharmacies had opted in to provide paediatric COVID vaccinations - about 40 per cent of the number providing vaccines for those aged 12 and over.

WHERE YOU CAN BOOK A VACCINATION

"It has been a very busy start for those pharmacies who had received their stock. There's been high demand and it's fantastic that families are getting organised to try to protect their children, family and the community," Mr Tassone said.

Some pharmacies, and some GP clinics, did not receive stock and were forced to cancel appointments.

And he said some were waiting until they actually received stock before opening appointments.

Mr Tassone said the lower take-up of pharmacies providing vaccinations for children aged five to 11 was due to a combination of factors including availability of enough staff, and the remuneration pharmacies receive for administering the vaccine not covering costs, particularly when vaccinating children which often required more staff, more time and distraction methods.

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RACGP rural chair Dr Michael Clements said many regional GPs across the country had not received vaccine stocks for children.

'We're a bit grumpy. There's always these excuses - emails said due to massive demand and freight issues you won't be getting your order," he said.

But many rural practices have been supporting each other, swapping doses and moving stock around to help each other.

"It feels like the government is trying to do the right thing by vaccinating, but they are always trying to do things on the cheap," he said.

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