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The Morrison Administration is Under Pressure from Inside to Extend the Requirement for Covid Vaccines in Elderly Care

The Morrison Administration is Under Pressure from Inside to Extend the Requirement for Covid Vaccines in Elderly Care

Published By Newly , 2 years ago

Even though the current deadline seems unattainable, several Coalition MPs want the mandate extended to include in-home caregivers and the disability sector.

There are demands to expand a Covid vaccination requirement for residential aged care staff to all aged care and disability care employees within the Coalition.

Warren Entsch, the Liberal MP for Leichhardt, addressed the matter with Greg Hunt, the health minister, this week, claiming that the mandate for the residential aged care staff was insufficient.

Katie Allen, a doctor before being elected to the federal legislature, likewise supported the demand for the government to explore expanding the requirement to home care workers to safeguard the most vulnerable.

In June, states and territories approved a vaccination mandate for the elderly care industry, although it only applies to employees in residential aged care facilities, covering about 276,000 people.

According to the Health Services Union, the workforce of caregivers for the elderly at home who get care packages is about one-third of this size.

Despite the support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme minister, Linda Reynolds, for requiring vaccinations for disability workers — a workforce of about 165,000 - the federal cabinet has failed to reach an accord.

As reported in the Guardian Australia on Wednesday, hundreds of elderly care facilities are falling behind in their attempts to vaccinate employees as the mandate's deadline approaches, with around 600 institutions still failing to vaccinate 50% of their personnel.

Entsch said he brought the matter up in the government party room this week after discovering that two of the three caregivers for his 91-year-old mother were unvaccinated. He believes that a vaccination requirement should be extended to all aged care and NDIS employees.

Entsch said that he appreciates what they have done so far. However, he still recognises that when there is an elderly person in-home care, that individual is still vulnerable.

He added that he had individuals working in elderly care protest outside his office that they would be forced to have a mandated vaccine and claiming their human right not to have it, whilst also asking that they be allowed to work in aged care.

He acknowledged that they're dealing with people's lives here, and one can’t have bob both ways.

Allen also suggested that the administration consider extending the mandate.

She said he has been quite clear about elderly care because they are the most vulnerable, and she doesn't see why that doesn't apply to home care.

Allen said that the NDIS workforce was different since many were younger and Covid and the Delta strain disproportionately impacted people over 70. However, she believes that vaccinations should be prioritised for this workforce and those between the ages of 20 and 40.

She said that she understands people's worries because the obligation is challenging in terms of labour relations, and there is a lot of misunderstanding and worry about it.

She added that she is certainly open to making it obligatory in elderly care, and she would be willing to explore expanding it to home care as well.

Last week, Reynolds said that a mandate for disability workers had been addressed at the federal cabinet and that the prime minister, Scott Morrison, had raised the issue with the states. She did, however, say that volunteer vaccinations had increased in recent weeks and that about 40% of NDIS employees were now immunised.

Reynolds said that, as it can be seen, public health orders are the responsibility of states and territories, and this has been discussed in the past few national cabinets.

The national government has considered it, and they believe it is very desirable.

This week in parliament, the government faced a torrent of questions about the sluggish speed of vaccination rollout for vulnerable Australians, including those in elder care, disability workers, and Indigenous Australians.

Labor's shadow health minister, Mark Butler, asked the government on Wednesday whether it could "ensure that there will be enough vaccinated aged care staff to care for vulnerable older Australians" when the vaccination requirement for the sector takes effect on September 17.

Hunt said that the vaccination rate among elderly care employees has increased by 5% in a single day, with 76 percent of those working in the field now getting a single shot.

Hunt affirmed that yes is the simple answer, and the reason for this is that they are now witnessing a significant rise in aged care staff due to the national cabinet decision.

He described the national cabinet decision to require vaccinations for the industry as "tough and hard."

Labor has not supported vaccination requirements for the sector but has chastised the government for failing to vaccinate employees in the elderly and disability care sectors.

Butler stated last month that Scott Morrison has badly let down hundreds of thousands of vulnerable elderly Australians, handicapped Australians, and all of their caregivers, leaving them dangerously exposed in the face of this highly contagious variant.”


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