Government sends aged care workers to GP for COVID jab

Aged care workers who were meant to be vaccinated at their nursing homes are now being told to book their own appointments at GP clinics.

Aged care workers are being told to join queues at GP clinics to receive a COVID-19 jab after the federal government quietly dumped its plan to vaccinate all staff at their nursing homes.

The first phase of the vaccine rollout — including 318,000 aged and disability care staff and 190,000 residents — was due to be finished this week.

But as of Wednesday, only 105,000 doses had been administered at 898 facilities, and the government is refusing to say how many aged care staff have been vaccinated.

The Herald Sun can also reveal aged care workers who provide care in homes rather than residential facilities were excluded from phase 1A of the rollout.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said in February that phase 1A would be completed within six weeks. By Wednesday, only 21,300 doses had been given in 167 Victorian aged care homes.

The federal government, which is responsible for vaccinating aged care residents and staff, initially planned to complete that “via in-reach” services handled by private contractors.

But on March 26, the government told aged care homes that staff needed to book their own appointments at GP clinics, and that the outreach teams would prioritise residents.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt said in February that phase 1A would be completed within six weeks. Picture: Gary Ramage

They were told pop-up aged care worker clinics would also be established in early April, and that only “some residential facilities” would have “approved in-reach vaccination clinics”.

The Herald Sun understands this caused confusion among aged care providers who had been waiting for plans to be made for their staff to be vaccinated onsite.

Opposition health spokesman Mark Butler said it was a “complete abdication of responsibility" for aged care workers to be sent to GPs for their jabs.

“This strategy is really running off course and, instead of doing the hard work to get it back on track again, the federal government is picking fights with state governments,” he said.

Victorian Labor MP Julian Hill said the rollout was a “disaster” because aged care workers were “being told to bugger off and try and find a vaccine from GPs who have no appointments for weeks or months”.

A Department of Health spokesman said residents were vaccinated first because they were most vulnerable, and that staff and residents were not vaccinated at the same time “because facilities could be placed at risk of staffing shortfalls” if workers suffered side effects.

He said home care workers were now eligible through phase 1B.