Vaccine deadline too tight for aged care workers

New rules forbidding Queensland aged care staff from working if they haven’t had a Covid-19 jab could have “serious ramifications” for the elderly, a nurses union says.

New rules forbidding Queensland aged care staff from working if they haven’t had a Covid-19 jab could have “serious ramifications” for the elderly, with the nurses union concerned there just isn’t enough time to meet the mid-September deadline.

Chief health officer Dr Jeannette Young this week updated the public health order to include Queensland’s entire aged care sector, meaning every aged care worker, from nurses to hairdressers, must have at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by September 16.

Nationally one in three aged care workers are yet to be jabbed less than a month to go until the deadline, with the Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union warning they aren’t confident the deadline can be met.

Beth Mohle, QLD Nurses and Midwives' Union, attends the Labour Day March in Brisbane. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

“Issues linked to the federal government’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout and federal availability of the Pfizer vaccine have caused serious delays regarding the vaccination of private aged care staff and other health workers,” QNMU secretary Beth Mohle said.

But the federal government has already said it won’t be giving the sector more time.

In Queensland, if workers can’t get a jab because of supply or a medical reason the health order dictates they should be “deployed to an alternative work location” where practicable.

There are “very limited situations” when unvaccinated workers will be allowed to keep going, including if the facility is experiencing a “critical worker shortage”.

Being unable to access the jab due to supply issues or medical reasons isn’t one of those exceptions.

Ms Mohle warned there could be “serious workforce issues” when the deadline hits.

With residential aged care facilities already facing “widespread and chronic understaffing”, Ms Mohle warned there could be “serious workforce issues” when the deadline hits and staff who want to get vaccinated simply could not do so in time.

“The reduction of already dangerously low aged care staff numbers linked to the lack of federal (minimum staffing) laws in Australian private aged care could have serious ramifications for elderly Queenslanders,” she said.

Major residential aged care provider Blue Care, a branch of UnitingCare Queensland, believes its workforce will meet the jab deadline with staff gaining access to on-site vaccination hubs across its network.

A spokeswoman for Blue Care indicated the organisation was unsurprised Queensland’s public health order had extended to include lifestyle and social care staff like music and art therapists.

Queensland Health confirmed 75 per cent of its aged care workforce — which make up a tenth of the state’s staff in the sector as a whole — have received at least one jab while 57 per cent are fully protected.