After weeks of uncertainty for staff and providers, the Federal Government has announced it will begin to ramp up vaccinations for aged care and disability care workers from next week, with the first of 13 ‘pop-up clinics’ focusing on workers to open in Sydney.
As we reported a few weeks ago, the Government had declared it would vaccinate all 678,000 high-risk aged care and disability workers and aged care residents in Phase 1a of its COVID vaccine rollout by 31 March.
But one month on from this deadline, only 37,000 staff have been vaccinated so far as part of in-reach vaccination programs in residential aged care according to evidence from the Department of Health presented at the parliamentary enquiry into the Government’s COVID response this week.
While this figure is likely to be higher – it does not include workers who have been vaccinated at GPs – that still leaves thousands waiting for a vaccine.
Staff and operators left waiting for vaccines
Operators have told us that they were initially told their staff would be vaccinated alongside residents – but vaccination teams were not given enough vaccines for the staff.
The Government then issued advice for aged care workers to visit GP clinics – but the heath advice was then changed to recommend that people aged under 50 not receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.
With the majority of aged care workers aged under 50, many have been left wondering when they will receive a vaccination – and where.
“Overlap” always expected in rollout, says Minister
Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Senator Richard Colbeck denied the Government had failed to prioritise the vulnerable on ABC Radio National Breakfast this week.
“It was always anticipated that there would be overlaps in the commencement of the stages,” he said. “It wasn’t that we would finish 1A then we would go to 1B then we would finish 1B and go to 2A. It was always anticipated as the availability of vaccine supply grew, so we would open up additional stages of the program.”
The Minister said that every aged care facility in Australia now has either a date or a two-week window within which their resident vaccinations will be completed.
“We are working with a few of them who want to change those dates around to allow for flu vaccinations which have been scheduled. But each facility has been provided either a date or a two-week window within which they will receive their vaccination.”
New vaccination advice for workers
Coincidentally the same day the Department released updated advice on how workers in residential aged care can get a COVID-19 vaccination, saying it wants staff to “get vaccinated quickly and safely”.
Workers aged 50 and over will be offered the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and are advised to access a vaccine either on-site at the aged care home where they work or visit a GP clinic, GP respiratory clinic or Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service by finding a participating clinic through the eligibility checker on the Department of Health website.
The Department says the ACT, QLD, SA and Tasmania are all expected to publish details for their clinics next week on Monday 3 May, while details for NT, Victoria and WA are expected to be advised shortly.
In NSW, the Local Health District will be contacting facilities directly to advise arrangements.
Special Pfizer clinics for workers aged under 50
Workers under 50 years will be offered the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
The first Pfizer clinics for aged care and disability workers are due to open next week from 3 May with a rollout across other locations now expected in the coming weeks.
The Department says it is currently contacting Sydney aged care homes to pass on booking information. Facility managers are then expected to be provide staff with a link to the online booking system.
The first four clinics in Sydney will be located in Blacktown, Campbelltown, the Sydney CBD and Macquarie Park – and run seven days a week.
Aged care providers can also run vaccination clinics
Aged care homes can also choose to conduct their own on-site vaccination clinics – in Victoria, aged care provider TLC Healthcare has used its own doctors to vaccinate residents and staff and is on track to complete final doses for its 1,500 residents, 2,000 staff, and contractors.
It is great to see progress on the rollout – we only hope that the Government can now deliver.
You can visit health.gov.au/covid19-vaccines or call the National COVID-19 Vaccine Helpline on 1800 020 080 to find out more.
