Melbourne aged care residents at centre of Covid-19 outbreak get jabbed

Residents at an aged care home in Melbourne’s inner west have received their Covid-19 vaccine following a commonwealth scheduling bungle.

During Victoria’s second wave of infections last year, 655 aged-care residents died. Picture: Darrian Traynor

Federal health authorities on Friday raced to vaccinate aged-care residents across Melbourne who had yet to receive corona­virus vaccinations as Victoria entered its first day of a week-long snap lockdown.

Residents at Doutta Galla aged-care home in inner-west Footscray were among those to receive Pfizer jabs after a commonwealth scheduling bungle left them exposed amid the state’s fourth coronavirus outbreak.

On Friday, The Australian revealed that the aged-care home – where nine residents died during Victoria’s second wave last year – was supposed to receive vaccine doses from May 17, but these ­arrived only on Friday.

“Doutta Galla is pleased residents have been able to receive the vaccination today. We have staff monitoring their progress and from all reports the process has been successful, and residents are happy and well,” a spokeswoman for the facility said.

Elders at the Jewish Care’s Windsor Aged Care Facility, which recorded two Covid-19-­related deaths last year, were also vaccinated. The aged-care facility in Melbourne’s southeast had originally been scheduled to receive the jab on May 11 before the government pushed back the rollout until June 4.

Jewish Care Victoria chief executive Bill Appleby said the vaccinations had gone off without a hitch, with all residents across the providers’ care homes now vaccinated. “We are delighted that all elders living in our three residential homes who wished to have the Covid-19 vaccine have now received their first Pfizer vaccine dose,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Doutta Galla, which operates eight aged-care sites across the state, confirmed that all facilities had “commenced” the vaccination program. When asked whether residents should have received the vaccine sooner, she said: “Doutta Galla Aged Services has worked with the Public Health Network and vaccination providers to ensure all residents were included in the rollout plan.”

Vaccines for the 44 residents were delayed after Healthcare Australia – a commonwealth con­tractor helping to administer vaccines – tried to reschedule the jab date to May 12, which was within two weeks of residents receiving their flu shot.

Registered nurse Akash Patel said staff booked in flu shots for residents on May 2 to allow a 14-day ­window between the flu jab and the Covid-19 vaccination on May 17 to follow Department of Health guidelines.

A spokeswoman for Healthcare Australia, the contractor, said “scheduling of vaccin­ations is a matter for the Department of Health”.

During Victoria’s second wave of infections last year, 655 aged-care residents died.