Every Australian aged care home’s Covid vaccination booster rate revealed

New data has revealed the Covid vaccine and booster rates for every aged care home in Australia. Search and see the worst offenders.

Exclusive: More than 90 per cent of residents in almost 100 aged care home across the country have not had a Covid booster in the past 12 months.

The Federal Government has released data showing vaccination rates in every aged care home, along with the percentage of residents who have had a Covid vaccine booster in the past year.

The data shows nearly half of the homes where less than 10 per cent of residents have had a Covid vaccination were based in NSW, a quarter were in Victoria, 16 were in Queensland and eight in South Australia. Tasmania had one and Western Australia made up the remainder.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson.

In around 700 homes, less than half of residents received a vaccine in the last 12 months.

Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson said residential aged care homes with low rates raised questions about whether those in charge are focusing enough on protecting older people in their care from serious disease.

She said the watchdog would be undertaking unannounced site visits to residential care homes with low Covid vaccination rates to determine the reasons why.

“Where we find that a provider lacks interest and, or, capability to take the necessary action, and their ongoing inattention to this vital preventive measure is placing residents in harm’s way, there will be regulatory consequences,” Ms Anderson said.

Search and see the table below:

The Department of Health and Aged Care recommends those aged over 75 should have a Covid vaccine every six months, while those aged 65 to 74 should have one every year.

Last week there were 4147 active Covid cases – 2888 were residents – from 487 live outbreaks in aged care facilities across Australia. There were also 48 Covid deaths.

More than 6600 aged care residents have died from the virus since the pandemic began.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners NSW chair Rebekah Hoffman said a vaccination rate of 95 per cent was needed for herd immunity, while a rate of 80 per cent or above would be a number she would consider “comfortable”.

Out of 2609 facilities, 1900 fell below the “comfortable” level.

“The low rates worry me,” Dr Hoffman said.

“When we think back to the height of Covid, it was devastating in some of these nursing homes. People didn’t just have a cough and a cold, they needed hospitalisation, ICU and in some cases they passed away.

“People in aged care were dying prematurely from Covid, when it is preventable. In Australia we usually pride ourselves on vaccinating people. We are great at it, but we have not done it this year.”

Vaccinations could prevent people in aged care dying prematurely from Covid.

Dr Hoffman said among the reasons for the low numbers was vaccine fatigue.

Professor Robert Booy, formerly of the National Centre for Immunisation Research and Surveillance (NCIRS), said the dire figures from the department showed a “clear need for urgent action”.

“Covid outbreaks are in a lot of aged care facilities already,” Prof Booy said. “There’s some apathy towards vaccines across the population. This apathy could lead to unnecessary deaths.”

Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) CEO Craig Gear said “providers need to do better”, adding those wanting a Covid booster, but not getting one, should call OPAN for help.

Originally published as Every Australian aged care home’s Covid vaccination booster rate revealed