Morrison Government doesn’t know how many aged care workers have been vaccinated

Pressure is growing on the Morrison Government after confronting pictures emerged from virus-stricken Melbourne.

Confronting pictures have captured the tragic reality of Victoria’s virus crisis, showing a frail elderly woman being transferred from one of Melbourne’s locked down aged care facilities.

The images, blurred for privacy reasons, show a resident of Arcare Maidstone being moved from the facility on Monday afternoon, after a resident tested positive for Covid-19.

The centre is one of several in Melbourne that have been exposed to the virus. A worker there tested positive on Sunday. It is not known where he contracted the virus.

On Monday, another worker at the same nursing home tested positive, alongside the resident, a woman in her 90s, who was asymptomatic and transferred to hospital. A worker who worked across three other aged care facilities also tested positive on Monday.

Meanwhile, pressure is growing on the Federal Government after it was revealed authorities have no idea how many aged care staff have been vaccinated.

Victoria is battling to control a coronavirus outbreak that has sent the state into a seven-day lockdown and has also infiltrated the Arcare Maidstone aged care facility, with the Morrison Government questioned over why aged care workers and residents had not yet been fully vaccinated.

A woman is transferred into a patient transport van and taken away from Arcare Maidstone Aged Care, after a resident tested positive. Picture: David Crosling

The Federal Government initially suggested aged care workers would be vaccinated within six weeks of the rollout’s commencement on February 22.

But three months and more than four million doses later, many in this group have still not received even their first dose.

Both workers and residents in aged care were listed as priority groups as part of Phase 1a, with authorities estimating it would take about 1.4 million doses to vaccinate this group.

In fact, the exact number of aged care workers who have been vaccinated is unclear, even to the Federal Government.

It has been estimated about 366,000 people work across the residential and community settings, including 240,000 direct care workers, according to 2016 figures.

Aged Care Minister Richard Colbeck told ABC’s RN Breakfast show this morning that just under 40,000 employees had received both doses of the vaccine.

However, he said the figure only included workers who had received the jab from leftover doses being given to aged care residents.

“We don’t have the consolidated data,” he admitted.

Part of the reason why a more accurate figure is unavailable is because of the mishmash of ways that workers can get vaccinated.

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A resident of Arcare Maidstone aged care in Victoria is transferred to hospital after testing positive to Covid-19. Picture: David Crosling

The Federal Government originally planned to vaccinate workers through in-reach teams sent into facilities, separate to those sent in to vaccinate residents.

However, this was changed because of advice that staff and residents should not be vaccinated at the same time because this would create a risk of staffing shortfalls due to the possibility of mild side effects after vaccination.

The changed guidelines for the AstraZeneca vaccine — that it should not be given to those under the age of 50 — also played a part.

The in-reach teams, run by private contractors, were told to prioritise vaccinating residents first and so have been largely unavailable to staff.

Workers were instead advised to get vaccinated via several different methods: through their GP if they are over the age of 50, through a state vaccination hub (that also offers Pfizer), a Commonwealth-run respiratory clinic, or through some aged care providers that also run their own vaccination clinics.

The government also promised to set up pop-up vaccination hubs specifically for aged care workers, with locations to be announced in April, but only three are currently running and these are all in Sydney.

Mr Colbeck said the government had asked aged care providers to provide information about Covid-19 vaccinations of staff, alongside their flu vaccination data to reduce the cost burden for the facilities.

“There are a range of different options that are available for staff and we’re asking the aged care providers who hold the data to report that information back to us,” Mr Colbeck said.

“At this point don’t have that consolidated.”

Leading Age Services Australia chief executive Sean Rooney told The Guardian the sector had asked the government for data on staff vaccinations but were told it was not yet ready to be released.

“To be honest, I can’t tell you how many workers are vaccinated, because the government is not keeping a record of it. We’ve asked them for that and they say ‘it’s a work in progress’,” Mr Rooney said.

Labor’s spokesman for government services Bill Shorten said he had been speaking to families who had loved ones in Victoria’s Arcare Maidstone facility, where two staff members and one resident have tested positive to Covid-19. He described the situation as “heartbreaking”.

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A worker wearing full PPE cleans surfaces at Arcare Maidstone aged care. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“I think the aged care facility is doing the best job it can, but it is disgraceful that residents and aged care workers, and the same with people with severe disabilities and disability workers, have not yet been vaccinated,” Mr Shorten told Today.

“Quite literally, there’s one job for the Federal Government this year. It’s to get that vaccination out. And it would be good if they could help run the quarantine service better.

“But let’s just vaccinate everyone. The anxiety on people is shocking.”

The government has defended the pace of the rollout and Mr Colbeck said “we’re comfortable about where we’re at”.

“Everybody would have liked to have done it faster, but logistically we’ve done it as quickly as we possibly could.

“And except for a few in a couple of states, all of the facilities have received their first dose and most — 70 per cent odd — have received their second dose.”

The government has said residents in more than 99 per cent of aged care facilities in Australia and 100 per cent in Victoria had access to a Covid-19 vaccine.

Across the country, around 85 per cent of residents have chosen to get the jab and had received a first dose.

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