Catholic Health Australia says disability support workers and those they care for must not be forgotten as the Federal Government rushes to roll out COVID-19 booster shots.
CHA, Australia’s largest non-government grouping of hospitals, aged and community care services, has advocated strongly for booster shots to be available in aged care settings.
The Federal Government recently announced that boosters would be available for people who completed their primary course of a COVID-19 vaccination more than six months ago, with residents and workers in residential aged care to get their booster doses from next week.
Nicole Clements, Catholic Health Australia’s Acting Strategy and Mission Director, welcomed the news that aged care workers and residents are a priority. However, she says the disability sector cannot be left behind.
“Disability support workers and their clients should be right at the front of the queue,” Ms Clements said.
“Severely immunocompromised Australians were identified by the Government as being the cohort that are most in need of the booster but we would argue that people with a disability and the workers that care for them are a close second.
“We have a duty to protect the most vulnerable in our community and should start by making sure our staff receive their boosters as soon as possible.
“These workers are going into people’s homes and moving around the community – it is part of their job description.
”Their place of work is the community, and we know that the Delta variant spreads rapidly via mobile workforces.”
Ms Clements says with growing evidence that the immunity offered against Delta by two vaccine doses wears off significantly as soon as six months, there is an obvious need to give disability support workers their boosters.
“Every day we delay is another day where people living with a disability and the people who care for them are exposed to unnecessary risk,” she said.
“All of those who did the right thing and got their first shots early are becoming vulnerable. They need that booster.”
