When the first doses of vaccines started arriving in Australia, aged care facilities around the country were promised that staff and residents would be vaccinated by the end of April 2021. In the planned first phase of the vaccine rollout, the government said that 2,500 care facilities would receive their vaccines.
However, as the end of April looms, and the vaccine rollout falls further behind each day, one care home in Victoria hasn’t received a single vaccine dose for either residents or staff.
But with a lack of vaccines, or any information regarding when they will receive their doses, Sacred Heart remains in the dark.
Sacred Heart is far from the only facility in this situation. Hundreds of care facilities around the country remain without vaccines, causing another aged care home in Victoria to take matters into their own hands and administer vaccines to their staff and residents themselves, recently becoming fully vaccinated across the facility.
“Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the rollout of vaccines was his key priority for 2021,” Mr Albanese told The Age.
“He is clearly bungling this critical task.”
Chief Executive at Sacred Heart, Cathy Humphrey, told The Age that at the start of March, she took a month of leave, expecting to return to vaccinated residents and staff. When she returned to zero vaccinations having taken place, she began to campaign.
“I expected our aged care facility would have been vaccinated when I came back,” she explained.
“I would have thought the logistics of it would have been set up quite swiftly.
“It’s rare that we would have to advocate for something like this that should just happen as a matter of course,” Cathy continued.
While the facility has been told to expect their first vaccines in mid-May, Ms Humphries said the possibility for further delays remains.
Josh Burns, Federal MP for Macnamara, the area covering St Kilda, said his office had been receiving calls from other homes “concerned about the lack of pace” on vaccinations.
“There are some dates being set for some centres but most of those dates are in May, and that’s just the first jab,” he told The Age.
“That’s not the staff, that’s just the residents – staff are being told to go to the GP. And, of course, they can’t get in.”
He also accused the Morrison government of “running a line” about the recent AstraZeneca recommendation changes as causes of the vaccine delays.
“That’s absolute nonsense. Way before any change in medical advice, the federal government was already way behind. They’ve now just decided to drop all semblance of targets.”
If you are prepared to drive to a location close to St. Kilda you can get the AZ vaccine. I drove to Port Melbourne football ground which is a return trip of about 50 km from where I live. Morrison is ‘yesterday’s man’ as one newspaper described him. He would have done well in the 1950’s but he simply does not and cannot represent Australia in 2021.
Same in Northern Rivers – 130 beds at my RACF and no vaccines in sight!
Not the only aged care facility where residents and staff have not any vaccinations as yet.
What a bunch of whingers. Shame they don’t realise how lucky they are. The vaccine is not the be it all end it or end it all of covid 19. Doesn’t stop transmission, ‘hoping it lessens symptoms , again ‘hoping’ it lessens symptoms . Have no idea of long term issues from the vaccine . Too dense to realise they are better off without this current vaccine.
Resthaven nursing home in Aberfoyle Park 5159 has 100 residents, none of the residents have had their first covid vaccine
Very interesting probably politically targeted, i work at a Victorian aged care of over 250 residents and over 300 staff plus a linked retirement living community of almost 800 residents and our management arranged for nurses and a doctor to attend over a week and vaccinate all. Our fear was being very busy (swamped) with reactive symptoms but this never eventuated as only a handful became mildly ill. People need to take responsibility for their own actions and life care and stop the hand out expecting everything done for them without lifting a finger. Do some research and work and managers get off your rear ends.
My husband is in a residential aged care facility in NSW ( Sydney) and the organisation was ready to give the Covid 19 jab from March 22nd but have not received any vaccines for staff or patients. They need to also give the normal flu jab and deliver it 2 weeks away from any other jab. So this is delaying both. This means the second jab will be done well into the winter months. Not happy Scott!
Cant understand why so many are in such a hurry for a vaccine that won’t stop lockdowns and mandated masking . Vaccines don’t prevent disease, they prevent serious side effects
This covid vaccine is not yet guaranteed to do that. So why the rush?