People with disability left out in pandemic response: royal commission

Disability royal commission says issues for the sector include problems with access to vaccinations and boosters.

Ronald Sackville, chair of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Picture: NCA NewsWire.

Two years after first flagging the particular impact of Covid-19 on the safety, health and wellbeing of people with disability, the disability royal commission remains “deeply concerned” they are not being sufficiently supported.

In a statement on Thursday, the commission listed a series of issues it has with the pandemic response for people with disabilities, including problems with access to vaccinations and boosters as well as disruption to disability services.

It said its concerns laid out in a report last October including that the vaccine rollout for people with disability had been ‘seriously deficient’ and they had been ‘deprioritised’ had yet to be addressed.

“The royal commission remains deeply concerned,” the statement by chairman Ronald Sackville said.

“The pandemic continues to expose the underlying inequities, discrimination and exclusion that people with disability experience in the delivery of fundamental services and supports.

“The royal commission is concerned that people with disability are still not being appropriately prioritised during this phase of the pandemic in relation to health care, disability support and the vaccine/booster rollout,” it said.

The commission said as the government moves next month to consider its Covid response for the coming winter, people with disability must be at the forefront of its thinking.

Often people with disability are dependent on family, friends and support workers to bring them essential services, and the commission said the pandemic has curtailed much of this support, creating risk to their safety, health and wellbeing.

It also highlighted data gaps with regard to vaccination rates and infections rates for people with disability, including mortality statistics.

The commission said access to health services and fear of healthcare rationing were rife among people with disability as health care services have become inundated at periods during the pandemic.

And it flagged a shortage of rapid antigen tests, PCR tests and personal protective equipment in the disability space.

The commission is releasing an issues paper early next month and is calling for submissions.