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The peak national body for disability service providers is calling for coronavirus vaccines to be made mandatory for frontline workers, warning that many staff members are hesitant about getting the jab when it is available.
A national survey into disability support worker vaccine attitudes released on Friday found 50 per cent had either decided not to get the vaccine, wanted to wait or had not yet made a decision.
One in five respondents said they would not get the vaccine at all.
People living in disability residential care and their support workers have been prioritised under phase 1A of the roll out, while disability workers providing in-home and community care are included in phase 1B.
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Frontline disability support workers have aired their exasperation at the slow coronavirus vaccine rollout in a letter to federal government ministers, detailing their “whole life being taken over” by the pandemic.
The chief executive of a NSW disability support provider has also lamented the lack of information provided to the sector, telling SBS News phase 1A “hasn’t really started in disability” despite being more than two months into the rollout.
Figures released during a Senate inquiry on Tuesday revealed only 93 of Australia’s more than 6,000 disability residential facilities had received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine, despite staff and residents being included in the first phase of the rollout.
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Disability advocates are urging the government to fix Australia s vaccination rollout, with the majority of the sector still waiting for their first coronavirus jab.
Disability accommodation providers and residents were supposed to be included in the first phase of the national rollout, which targets the country s most vulnerable residents.
National Disability Services chief David Moody says the sector is keenly awaiting the result of Monday s national cabinet meeting in the hopes a tangible plan is developed to get the rollout back on track.
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He understands that it is a huge logistical exercise. That said, we are frustrated, very frustrated, and concerned about the lack of vaccine going into people s arms which should have been under phase 1a, Mr Moody told AAP.
Residents and carers in Australia's disability support homes are still waiting for their first dose of the virus vaccine despite being a priority group.
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