After months of debate, Prime Minister Scott Morrison this week that National Cabinet had mandated that residential aged care workers are to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment.
He has asked the States and Territories to ensure that at least the first dose of the vaccine will be administered by mid-September for every residential aged care worker.
An $11 million grant program will be used to compensate aged care homes for casual staff going off-site for vaccination or who may need to take leave if they become unwell after vaccination.
Facilities will also be supported to organise off-site vaccination for employees.
It’s an important step forward in the fight against the virus – and one that can’t come soon enough.
The Federal Government’s Department of Health yesterday revealed less than 40% of Australia’s oldest and most vulnerable people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 more than four months into the rollout.
The data, which breaks down vaccination by age and gender, shows double dose vaccination rates are still below 40% for all people aged in their 80s and 90s.
About 35,000, or 67.1%, of those aged 95 and over have received a first dose and 20,311 (38.4%) have received a second dose.
The vaccine rollout began on 20 February and people over 50 have been eligible for vaccination since 3 May.
Double doses for those aged 90-94, 85-89 and 80-84 age brackets were 29.8%, 20.2%, and 15.7% respectively.
The current outbreaks are also still posing a risk to older Australians.
Two unvaccinated nurses who work at SummitCare’s aged care facility in Baulkham Hills, 31km north-west of Sydney CBD, tested positive to COVID-19 this week after working the same shift.
The home has been locked down as a result.
Thankfully, NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said that about 135 of the 149 residents had been vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer vaccine over a month ago.
