Covid-19 jabs blitz for Victorian aged and disability workers

Victorian aged-care and disability-care workers will be fast-tracked in a five-day state government vaccination program starting on Wednesday.

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt. Picture: Gary Ramage

Victorian aged-care and disability-care workers will be fast-tracked in a five-day state government vaccination program starting on Wednesday, as the Morrison government reveals it doesn’t know how many nursing home workers in Australia have had the jab.

The Andrews government will set up designated lanes in 10 vaccine hubs around the state to service aged-care and disability-care workers, and is urging unvaccinated care workers to come forward.

“We have concerns there isn’t enough coverage and that is why we are stepping in,” Victoria’s Disability, Ageing and Carers Minister Luke Donnellan said.

“This is very much a call to arms for those workers on the frontline to come out. We will give you a priority lane so it makes it quicker and easier, because we very much want to ensure we are protecting those people and the aged-care ­facilities and the disability sector from Covid-19,” he said.

Concern over the vaccination of aged-care workers has risen after a carer at the Arcare Maidstone in Melbourne’s west tested positive on Saturday as part of the latest outbreak that has plunged Victoria into another lockdown.

The carer, who had received only her first dose of the vaccination, passed on the infection to a 99-year-old resident and an unvaccinated colleague, who also worked at a second care home.

Victoria lost 655 aged-care residents to the virus last year, with more than 80 per cent of infections transmitted via care staff. The vaccination of nursing home residents and workers was given top priority in the federal government’s vaccination program, but the rollout’s slow pace has attracted criticism.

Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck told Senate estimates on Tuesday he was “comfortable” with the pace of the vac­cine rollout into nursing homes.

But he said the government did not know how many aged-care staff had received one or both jabs, as there were several ways that workers may have received it, including through their own GP.

“We don’t have compiled data,” Senator Colbeck said. “We’ve been working on developing the portal to achieve that. All of this predates what’s happening in Victoria.”

New health department data tabled in estimates showed just 32,833 of the aged-care workforce had been fully vaccinated under the commonwealth’s vaccination program, of which 8027 are in Victoria. Another 39,874 workers across the nation have received one jab through the scheme.

There are about 366,000 aged-care workers in total, including chefs, cleaners and personal care workers, according to the federal government’s estimate.

Health department assistant secretary Caroline Edwards said vaccination rates were likely higher because the available data captured only those vaccinated in the commonwealth’s program.

“Can we be clear, this is the minimum number based on a ­single program of four channels,” Ms Edwards said.

She said the department had begun surveying providers for the total numbers of workers vaccinated through other channels such as GPs and state hubs. The data will be published through an online portal on Friday.

Health Minister Greg Hunt was forced to correct the record in question time on Tuesday after he was caught citing incorrect figures regarding the number of unvaccinated nursing homes.

On Monday, Mr Hunt said there were only six aged-care ­facilities in Australia that were yet to receive a dose. But the Health Department told Senate estimates the number of unvaccinated nursing homes was 21.

Mr Hunt told parliament the correct figure was in fact 20. “Nobody else’s fault but mine. The department’s advice was correct and the misreading was my fault.”

Provider advocacy group Aged Care and Community Services Australia chair Sarah Blunt called for an end to “blame shifting” between the states and commonwealth, and a refocus on getting vaccines into care workers.