Hello
I'm Alison McMillan the Commonwealth
Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
and I'm a registered nurse and I'm Annie
Butler the Federal Secretary for the
Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Federation and I'm also a registered
nurse
and we'd just like to start by thanking
all aged care and disability workers for
the amazing work that you do
especially the work that you've done
over the last year during the COVID-19
pandemic
protecting your residents and the
community.
Thanks Annie, so we're here today to talk
about how aged care workers
and disability workers can access the
COVID-19 vaccination.
So first Annie can you give us some
thoughts about the importance of aged
care and disability care workers
getting vaccinated. Well yeah thanks
Alison, as we know
residential aged care and disability
workers perform a vital role in our
community.
They provide crucial services and
support to older Australians living in
nursing homes
and to people with disabilities in
residential facilities
who are the most vulnerable to the
effects of COVID-19.
We know from COVID-19 outbreaks both
here in Australia and overseas that
aged care residents in particular are
most at risk from severe illness
and sadly even death from COVID-19
disease.
That's why it's really important that
aged care and disability workers
get vaccinated so that they can protect
the residents in their
care, their families and the wider
community.
That's so important Annie and yes we
know that aged care and disability care
workers do really
care about the people they work and care
for and they've done as you've said
an incredible job during this pandemic
and during the outbreak.
Um so along with all of those really
safe
um COVID-safe measures that they've
taken in the last 12 months
we now know that vaccination is the most
effective protection
against the COVID virus. That's right
and look we'd say
it's just normal for people to have
questions about the new COVID-19
vaccines
and even to feel a little bit hesitant
of course. The vaccine
is not currently mandatory but it is
strongly recommended
and we have in Australia two safe and
effective COVID-19 vaccines at the
moment, the AstraZeneca
and the Pfizer vaccine and we know that
they are
very effective at preventing death and
severe illness amongst those who
contract COVID-19.
That's right so when making a decision
about whether to get vaccinated or not
the
aged care and disability workers need to
understand both the risks and benefits.
So I think it's really important first
to say that safety
is our priority in Australia. We've been
able to prevent
sustained community transmission
although we have seen some outbreaks of
course in the last 18 months
um but we continue to be at risk of
community transmission in Australia.
Yeah that's right. It's also really
important to know that there's now
a number of options for workers to get
vaccinated and it's really about
people choosing the option that works
best for them.
So your age determines which vaccine
you'll receive and that's based on
recent advice from Australia's
expert group on immunisation so if
you're aged 50 and over
you'll be offered the AstraZeneca vaccine
and if you're aged under 50
you'll be offered the Pfizer vaccine.
That's right
so your age to some extent therefore
determines
where you go to get vaccinated. Some
clinics that are doing vaccinations will
have both vaccines
and some will only have one so let's run
through those options.
Workers aged 50 and over can access an
AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination
at a GP clinic, at a GP respiratory
clinic
or an Aboriginal Community Controlled
Health Service.
Alternatively, aged care workers 50 years
and over
can access an AstraZeneca vaccine at a
state and territory vaccination clinic.
Arrangements in different states and
territories are happening progressively.
Participating clinics can be found
through the eligibility checker on the
Department of Health
website. If you can't find details of
nearby clinics
please check regularly as listings will
continue to be updated
as clinics become available. In addition,
some employers who wish to vaccinate
their staff have options of having
AstraZeneca vaccination clinics
for workers aged 50 and over on site
so you should check with your employer
to see if they have this option
available to you.
And if you're aged under 50, you can go
to a Pfizer vaccination clinic in your
state and territory.
And to find out where the nearest clinic
is you can go to the COVID-19 vaccine
eligibility checker which is on the
health.gov.au website.
In addition, dedicated pop-up Pfizer
vaccination clinics will become
available
in some locations. Now these are
dedicated clinics for residential aged
care and disability workers aged
under 50. The first clinics have opened
in Sydney and more are coming soon.
So you can check with your employer
about the details for these clinics as
they become available in your area.
Some employers are also running on-site
Pfizer vaccination clinics for workers
aged under 50 so you can check with your
employer to see if this is an option for
you.
Thanks Annie. There's just a couple of
other things that are important when
preparing to get vaccinated so when
you've got your appointment
staff need to take proof of age and also
proof of their employment.
Um and it is recommended that
anyone waits 14 days between a flu
vaccination and a COVID-19 vaccination
so they really need to talk to their
employer about this as well.
Alison we discussed earlier we've got
two, currently we've got two vaccines in
Australia,
the AstraZeneca and the Pfizer vaccine. We
know they're both effective
and safe and they're highly effective at
preventing death and severe illness
amongst people who contract COVID-19
but a question that often comes up is
why can't people choose
which vaccine they get. Thanks Annie
and I know this is a really important
question.
So um when making decisions around
prioritisation of vaccines
it's based on both the availability and
the clinical guidance.
You already spoke about this expert
group that provides that advice
so that advice has made a very clear
recommendation
that those under 50 get access to the
Pfizer vaccine
and those over 50 get access to the
AstraZeneca vaccine.
We know that both of these vaccines are
highly effective
against severe disease and death
and so that's how those decisions
have been made.
Thanks Alison, there's also just been a
few reports in the media lately about
the AstraZeneca vaccine so there's still
some people who have questions about the
safety for that vaccine
for people aged 50 and over. That's right
Annie so we have seen some
reports and we are seeing it around the
world some
association with the AstraZeneca. So
firstly
these side effects are very rare
and it's really also important to
understand
that the risk of severe disease or
death
for anyone over 50 from COVID is
much greater than the risk associated
with severe disease or death
from the vaccine, so that's why we
continue to recommend
this vaccine for the over 50s. Yeah
great look thanks Alison. Look
we really hope this chat has helped our
aged care and disability workers to
understand more about how you can get a
COVID-19 vaccination.
We're very lucky in Australia that we're
rolling out our vaccine program
while we don't have high community
transmission
but the risk remains ever present and we
have an opportunity to get protected
against COVID-19.
So what we'd like to reiterate now is
that our aged care and disability
workers
have an increased range of options where
you can get your vaccine.
We encourage you to make your booking.
Thanks Annie and that's a great point to
wrap up just to say of course
there is lots of information available
to you about guiding your choice
and so you understand about how and
where to access your vaccine.
That's available on health.gov.au.
The information is also translated into
19 languages
to help you understand all of this
information.
And we've also provided this information
to your workplace
so you should be able to access it there
too. And we hope you'll be able to be
well informed about accessing the
vaccine.
So thank you for spending your time with
us today.
Thanks so much.