Hawkesbury people with disabilities living in residential care and their carers, who were due to be first in line to receive a COVID vaccine, are still waiting more than three months later, Federal Member for Macquarie Susan Templeman has said.
Ms Templeman said at least 17,000 people with disabilities living in supported accommodation around the country hadn’t had their first vaccination up to last week. There are also hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities, not living in supported accommodation, who haven’t been able to access the vaccine.
“We can see how real the threat of COVID is, with the Greater Melbourne lockdown, and it’s a real betrayal of people with disabilities, their families, and their carers,” Ms Templeman said.
“They trusted the Morrison Government when they were told they’d be at the front of the queue. People in disability care facilities were classified as being in the 1a category, the first in line when the vaccine rolled out.
“Monday was the 100th day of the Morrison Government’s vaccine rollout, and only about two per cent of the Australian population has been fully vaccinated.
“What Government Ministers are ducking and weaving about is why so few people have been vaccinated. These are a group with profound and severe disabilities and they often have reduced immunities. The consequence for many of not being able to get their vaccination, is that their ability to get out and about is reduced, and some can't even leave their own house.
“Back in February, local residential facilities were told to get ready for the vaccination program, so they understandably had a belief that their residents and their care staff would receive the vaccine shortly afterwards.
“I know one home who did everything they needed to do to get consent, which isn't always a simple process because the residents themselves aren't able to give that consent. It involves a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with families.
“But what happened? Absolutely nothing. They are still waiting for their vaccinations from the Federal Government and have had to make alternate arrangements with local GPs.
“Families are understandably saying it's not good enough, and the people running these homes are desperate to do the right thing.
“A second provider in the electorate, in Springwood, has also ditched the Commonwealth program when it failed to deliver. The government has been of no use whatsoever, so organisations have had to organise it themselves.
“This is another example of a government that simply doesn’t take responsibility for anything.
“They outsourced aged care early in the pandemic, they flicked the serious issue of quarantine over to the states, and now they've botched the vaccination rollout for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
“Why has this government dropped the ball on vaccinating people with disabilities living in disability care?”
