The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has said that pharmacists are at "breaking point" after weeks of RATs shortages and the ongoing vaccine program.

Kooringal Pharmacy co-owner Justin Smith said that he has had orders for RATs since before Christmas and they come in a "managed supply" from wholesalers, potentially forty at a time, but they are gone within hours of hitting shelves.

The last time Mr Smith had stock was Thursday, and he admits it can be tiring to be constantly questioned about test availability.

"You put signs up, you put a phone message up, people still ask the question, they think we've got a secret stash out the back," he said.

Luke van der Rijt, co-owner of Southcity Pharmacy, last had tests on Monday and they were gone in two hours. He said he gets hundreds of calls for RATs a day, and he and his staff face aggression "daily" from customers desperate for the kits.

"There is a lot of people stressed and frustrated and anxious in the community," he said. "The more patient people can be during these times, is appreciated."

Mr Smith asks that people to be patient with his staff, but said he understands their frustrations. "I think it's just people needing an outlet to air their frustration, not necessarily directed at us, it comes out that way sometimes."

But he admits that at times the pressure has put his staff close to burning out.

"From August through to Christmas we were doing vaccines five days a week and it was pretty ordinary, stressful, burnout, just like Groundhog Day," he said.

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This week the government also started to provide free kits for concession card holders. But pharmacists say that even if they had RATs, they may not be able to give them out to card holders.

The government will reimburse them $10 dollars for each unit the provide for free, but some tests are wholesaling for $15 or more, so they can only give out so many tests without making a loss.

Both men said they are disappointed with the organisation of both the concession card program and vaccination rollout.

Mr van der Rijt said It's a real "challenge trying to find [tests] that are suitable for the government program."

He also said there is "a lot of exhaustion" in his industry as it goes through "extraordinary changes", and as his workload increases he's also found it hard to find staff, especially since the pharmacy at Charles Sturt University moved to Orange.

Both pharmacists cautiously expect to get more RATs early February.

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