Aged care staff 'unable to access Covid vaccine'
The majority of staff at the BlueWave Living aged care home in Woy Woy have been unable to access a Covid vaccination, according to chief executive Mr Matt Downie.
Mr Downie described the situation as "extraordinary".
"Not being able to run in-house vaccination clinics, as we do for influenza vaccination for our staff, is quite an extraordinary position for the Federal Government to take, especially given the far greater risk and adverse outcomes Covid presents to our industry and to our elders in care.
"Not standing by the commitment that our staff would be in the first 1A group of persons to be vaccinated in this country is also extraordinary," he said.
"And after months of requesting information and direction from the Federal Health Department regarding staff being vaccinated, the official communication provided recently amounted simply to staff having to make their own arrangements to obtain the vaccination.
"Our staff are working in one of the highest risk environments when it comes to COVID, given the risk to our residents.
"The majority of our staff have not been able to access the Covid vaccination, yet we are now supposedly have moved right through from 1A, 1B, 2A and now in stage 2B of the Covid vaccination roll out.
"The challenges associated with our staff trying to access the vaccination at hubs is significant.
"It will unfortunately result in a much lower vaccination take up given these challenges.
"We were very fortunate that BlueWave residents were amongst the first to be vaccinated in Australia.
"However unfortunately, there are still facilities in this country, months later, where residents have not been afforded that same opportunity."
SOURCE:
Newsletter, 10 Jun 2021
Matt Downie, BlueWave Living