Guardian: Disability Services take COVID vaccinations into their own hands
7/04/2021
The Guardian reports that disability care residents have been visiting their GP as the phase 1a vaccine rollout continues to be delayed.
NDS has been receiving a significant number of complaints from members about the rollout, including about poor communications from government on when and where to expect vaccine deliveries.
NDS CEO, David Moody said some members had now begun "taking matters into their own hands".
“We do know, and this as recently as this morning, that a number of our provider members are taking matters into their own hands, and doing their best to support clients – often with very significant behavioural challenges – to access the vaccines through their local GP, rather than waiting for the vaccine to be delivered to the disability accomodation where they might be living,” Moody told the Guardian on Tuesday.
“They’re doing that because they haven’t been able to get the vaccine where their clients have been living. And so it is with their own workforce. The intention with phase 1a had been that it would allow people with a disability and the workers supporting them to get the vaccine … at their place of residence.