{"id":13725,"date":"2021-11-06T04:45:37","date_gmt":"2021-11-06T04:45:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=13725"},"modified":"2021-11-06T04:45:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-06T04:45:37","slug":"covid-19-vaccine-push-to-protect-senior-australians-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2021\/11\/06\/covid-19-vaccine-push-to-protect-senior-australians-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 vaccine push to protect senior Australians at home"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Morrison Government has opened a $20 million grant program for home care providers to increase and report on the vaccination rate of their workforce.
\nMore than 175,000 senior Australians are on a home care package with the services they receive provided by around 116,000 home care workers.
\nMinister for Health and Aged Care, Greg Hunt, said the grants would give home care providers extra assistance to ensure the safety of their clients.
\nThe approval of the program follows today\u2019s meeting of National Cabinet which continues to act on the advice of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee.
\n\u201cAlthough we are seeing a great take up of the vaccination in older Australians, with almost 92 per cent of people over 70 having received two doses, it is imperative this workforce is vaccinated to minimise the risk of COVID-19 entering the homes of vulnerable seniors,\u201d Minister Hunt said.
\nWhile COVID-19 vaccination is not a mandatory requirement nationally for in-home and community aged care workers, the Government expects to receive advice soon from the medical experts of the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) about whether it should be a prerequisite of employment across Australia.
\nCOVID-19 vaccination is a mandatory requirement for this workforce in the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Northern Territory, and Victoria.
\nWestern Australia has announced requirements for COVID-19 vaccination for a range of occupations and workforces in the state, including in-home and community aged care workers.
\n\u201cIrrespective of the advice from the AHPPC, I urge workers to take up vaccination now to protect themselves, their families and the people in their care,\u201d Minister Hunt said.
\nMinister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services, Senator Richard Colbeck, said the vaccination status of the workforce was continuing to grow.
\n\u201cAs at 4 November, home care providers reported 85 per cent of home care workers had received a first dose and 69.5 per cent a second dose,\u201d Minister Colbeck said.
\n\u201cThese grants \u2013 up to $48,000 \u2013 will help approved providers support their workforce to get vaccinated. It will also assist with mandatory reporting of the vaccination status of their workforce on the My Aged Care Portal, which came into effect in July.\u201d
\nThe Department of Health is working closely with all providers to ensure workforce COVID-19 vaccination reporting is up to date and accurate.
\n\u201cGood data will help us support public health measures and inform any adjustments we need to make to better support vaccinations for workers,\u201d Minister Hunt said.
\nIn-home and community aged care workers have had priority access to COVID-19 vaccination since March 2021.
\nDedicated vaccination hubs initially opened to residential aged care and disability workers are now available to in-home and community aged care workers.
\nGPs, pharmacies and government vaccination clinics have also been asked to support in-home and community aged care workers with appointments within 7 days
\nProviders can use the grants announced today to cover costs incurred from 1 July 2021 to 30\u00a0June 2022. This is in addition to existing financial support for aged care providers directly impacted by COVID-19.
\nApplications open on 5 November. Further details are available on\u00a0GrantConnect<\/a>.
\nThis funding builds on $13.8 million that was recently made available to support Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) providers increase and report on the vaccination rate of their workforce, as part of the CHSP COVID-19 emergency funding grant opportunity.
\nThis funding can assist CHSP providers to meet the costs associated with staff taking leave to attend a vaccination clinic, activities that encourage staff to get vaccinated and the collection and reporting of the vaccination status of workers.
\nApplications are available on\u00a0GrantConnect<\/a>\u00a0and also close on 30 June 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Morrison Government has opened a $20 million grant program for home care providers to increase and report on the vaccination rate of their workforce. More than 175,000 senior Australians are on a home care package with the services they receive provided by around 116,000 home care workers. Minister for Health and Aged Care, Greg … Continue reading “COVID-19 vaccine push to protect senior Australians at home”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}