coronavirus, COVID, COVID-19, coronavirus, Canberra vaccine, COVID vaccine, disability vaccine
Canberra residential disability facilities meant to be among the first in line to get COVID-19 vaccinations are still waiting to be told when they’ll be able to get them. A spokeswoman for the federal health department said that, as at Tuesday, 10 residential disability facilities in the ACT had received first and second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. Earlier this month, the department couldn’t confirm how many facilities in the ACT were yet to receive any vaccines. On Wednesday, they still couldn’t confirm how many were waiting. Disability accommodation service Abbeyfield, which has group homes in both Curtin and Garran, was told earlier this year that its residents and workers came under phase 1a of the national vaccination rollout. As at Wednesday, the service hadn’t been told when it would receive vaccines. Abbeyfield Curtin management committee vice-chair Jacqui Landos said some residents had resorted to being vaccinated at their general practitioner’s. Her son, too, lived at Abbeyfield’s Curtin house. He got his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine about three weeks ago, having opted not to wait to hear back from the federal government. “I sent an email around to all the other parents to say what I had done and that I didn’t have a great deal of confidence that the government rollout would be any time soon,” Ms Landos said. “[I spoke to] the Department of Health in February … and they [asked whether we] would like them to come to the house and do everybody together, and I said, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a great idea’. “I’ve emailed and I’ve phoned them several times since then, and they just keep saying ‘wait’.” QuestCare business development manager Bill Aldcroft said none of his residences that were eligible under phase 1a of the rollout had received vaccinations. The Health Department had contacted him in early March about the rollout. He said while it would be good for his residents and workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, he was thankful that coronavirus hadn’t had a huge impact in the ACT. As at Wednesday, Mr Aldcroft had about 25 residents who were eligible for the vaccine. “To be perfectly honest, we’re in a good position and so I’m not really stressed about the rollout,” Mr Aldcroft said. “I’m sure if we were in Germany, it would be a totally different situation. “I suppose the trepidation is that, if we have three people with coronavirus tomorrow, the whole face of disability support in Canberra will change.” READ MORE: ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Wednesday said the territory had asked the federal government for more information about the vaccine rollout in the disability sector. “We know that both people with disability in residential care facilities and also the workers who support people with disability haven’t had the information that they would have liked in terms of the rollout,” she said. “We’ve consistently said to the Commonwealth that we are very willing to work with them to ensure that those people can get their vaccinations in a timely way.” The minister said the territory government would continue to make that offer. Of the 26 residential aged care facilities in the ACT, all had been given first doses of a COVID-19 vaccine as at April 2, and 23 had been given second doses as at Tuesday. A spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health said the Australian government was continuing to roll out COVID vaccines in residential aged care and disability facilities as quickly as it was “safe to do so”. “The co-ordination and delivery of vaccine in residential disability care is being refined with the disability sector and the Commonwealth-funded workforce to support vaccination in so many small and dispersed locations,” the spokeswoman said. She said work was under way to determine how the rollout would be adjusted to take into account the recommendation from Australia’s vaccine advisory panel that under-50s should get the Pfizer vaccine over the AstraZeneca vaccine. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
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Canberra residential disability facilities meant to be among the first in line to get COVID-19 vaccinations are still waiting to be told when they’ll be able to get them.
A spokeswoman for the federal health department said that, as at Tuesday, 10 residential disability facilities in the ACT had received first and second doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Earlier this month, the department couldn’t confirm how many facilities in the ACT were yet to receive any vaccines. On Wednesday, they still couldn’t confirm how many were waiting.
Disability accommodation service Abbeyfield, which has group homes in both Curtin and Garran, was told earlier this year that its residents and workers came under phase 1a of the national vaccination rollout.
As at Wednesday, the service hadn’t been told when it would receive vaccines.
Abbeyfield Curtin management committee vice-chair Jacqui Landos said some residents had resorted to being vaccinated at their general practitioner’s.
Her son, too, lived at Abbeyfield’s Curtin house. He got his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine about three weeks ago, having opted not to wait to hear back from the federal government.
“I sent an email around to all the other parents to say what I had done and that I didn’t have a great deal of confidence that the government rollout would be any time soon,” Ms Landos said.
“[I spoke to] the Department of Health in February … and they [asked whether we] would like them to come to the house and do everybody together, and I said, ‘Yeah, that sounds like a great idea’.
“I’ve emailed and I’ve phoned them several times since then, and they just keep saying ‘wait’.”
QuestCare business development manager Bill Aldcroft said none of his residences that were eligible under phase 1a of the rollout had received vaccinations.
The Health Department had contacted him in early March about the rollout.
He said while it would be good for his residents and workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as possible, he was thankful that coronavirus hadn’t had a huge impact in the ACT.
As at Wednesday, Mr Aldcroft had about 25 residents who were eligible for the vaccine.
“To be perfectly honest, we’re in a good position and so I’m not really stressed about the rollout,” Mr Aldcroft said.
“I’m sure if we were in Germany, it would be a totally different situation.
“I suppose the trepidation is that, if we have three people with coronavirus tomorrow, the whole face of disability support in Canberra will change.”
ACT Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith on Wednesday said the territory had asked the federal government for more information about the vaccine rollout in the disability sector.
“We know that both people with disability in residential care facilities and also the workers who support people with disability haven’t had the information that they would have liked in terms of the rollout,” she said.
“We’ve consistently said to the Commonwealth that we are very willing to work with them to ensure that those people can get their vaccinations in a timely way.”
The minister said the territory government would continue to make that offer.
A spokeswoman for the federal Department of Health said the Australian government was continuing to roll out COVID vaccines in residential aged care and disability facilities as quickly as it was “safe to do so”.
“The co-ordination and delivery of vaccine in residential disability care is being refined with the disability sector and the Commonwealth-funded workforce to support vaccination in so many small and dispersed locations,” the spokeswoman said.
She said work was under way to determine how the rollout would be adjusted to take into account the recommendation from Australia’s vaccine advisory panel that under-50s should get the Pfizer vaccine over the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
