25 January 2021

COVID-19 vaccines national rollout planning: Urgent request for information

The Australian Government is urgently requesting key information from providers of group disability accommodation. Your assistance is required immediately to support planning and logistics for rolling out the COVID-19 vaccines. 

Key messages

• NDIS participants and workers at group disability accommodation settings will be among the first groups of people in Australia to be offered the COVID-19 vaccines.
• Health service providers will be asking to visit your service, to offer the vaccines to participants and workers on-site.
• The Australian Government is urgently requesting key information about your accommodation sites, to help plan the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines.
• Information should be provided using the online form by 12 noon AEDT, Tuesday 2 February 2021.
• A Disability Sector COVID-19 Vaccines Implementation Plan has been developed by the Australian Government, and will soon be available.

Scope of information request

The Australian Government is seeking information from providers who deliver the following services under the NDIS:

• Assistance with daily life tasks in a group or shared living arrangement; and/or
• Specialised Disability Accommodation; and/or
• Medium Term Accommodation.  

If you do not provide group disability accommodation, no action is required. 

The information initially required for each provider’s disability accommodation site includes:

• provider details 
• street address of each of your accommodation sites
• details of the person in charge for each site (and an alternative point of contact), and their location and contact details 
• number of NDIS participants living at each site 
• total number of staff and volunteers who routinely work, or are on-call, at each site.

Information about each participant’s individual circumstances, including consent to being vaccinated, is not being collected as part of this initial information collection. This information will be gathered later, ahead of the booking process.

Please provide all the requested information for each of your sites by using this online form by no later than 12 noon AEDT Tuesday 2 February 2021. 

This timing is critical to ensure people in priority groups can be offered the vaccines at the earliest opportunity. While information can be provided beyond the deadline, any delay may impact on the timing for vaccinations to be administered at your sites.

Why is this information required?

Participants and workers at disability group accommodation settings will be among the first people in Australia to be offered the COVID-19 vaccines, under the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines National Rollout Strategy.

The Australian Government is engaging health service providers to visit your accommodation sites, to administer the vaccines to participants and workers.

The information being requested will be used by health authorities and authorised health service providers involved in the administration of the COVID-19 vaccines in Australia to plan and implement the rollout. 

The potential uses of the information include, but are not limited to, vaccination workforce planning, sequencing and scheduling of the vaccines rollout, and to enable local coordination and follow up with an appropriate point of contact at the site. All personal information collected for the purpose of the COVID-19 vaccines national rollout will be handled in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988. 

What about NDIS participants in aged care facilities?

Information on all people in residential aged care settings (including NDIS participants) will be captured separately by the Department of Health.

Who will have access to the information collected?

Officers supporting the COVID-19 vaccines rollout from the Commonwealth Department of Social Services and Department of Health, the National Disability Insurance Agency, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission (NDIS Commission), personnel from state and territory health authorities and Commonwealth and state and territory authorised health service providers. 

COVID-19 vaccines national rollout strategy

People with disability are a priority under the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines National Rollout Strategy.

Residents and workers at group disability accommodation settings will be among the first people in Australia to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine. This will be during Phase 1a of the rollout.

Phase 1b will include other people with a disability, as well as all older Australians over 70 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 55 years, and younger adults with an underlying medical condition. 

The staged rollout of the vaccines for priority groups is expected to commence in mid to-late February 2021. The phases are set out in the Australian Government’s COVID-19 Vaccines National Rollout Strategy.

A Disability Sector COVID-19 Vaccines Implementation Plan has been developed by the Australian Government, in consultation with the disability sector and health experts. It will be published on the Australian Government Department of Health website shortly. You will be notified when it is available. The plan will further explain the strategy for providing vaccinations to people with disability, and will also outline provider responsibilities.

As this is the largest and most complex vaccination rollout in Australia’s history, it will take time to work through the detailed implementation issues, particularly at a local level. Key issues identified by the disability sector are feeding into the planning of the rollout and the development of communication products to support providers and participants.

It is important to remember that the vaccines are only one of a number of controls to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Other controls, such as good hand hygiene, use of personal protective equipment in close contact settings and physical distancing continue to be important. 

Where can I find more information about the vaccines?

If you have specific questions about this information request, please email: DC_COVID19Response@dss.gov.au. 

The Disability Sector COVID-19 Vaccines Implementation Plan will address further questions about the vaccination rollout. You will be notified when it is available. 

The Australian Government will continue to provide regular updates and communication materials as more information becomes available in coming weeks. For the latest information and updates, visit the Department of Health COVID-19 Vaccines website. 

Questions about NDIS quality and safeguarding issues? 

Contact the NDIS Commission by calling 1800 035 544 (free call from landlines). Our contact centre is open 9.00am to 4.30pm in the NT, and 9.00am to 5.00pm in all other states and territories Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

Alternatively, you can email contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au or visit our COVID-19 information webpage.

Visit the NDIS Commission website to see our previous COVID-19 provider alerts.  

NDIS participants should visit the NDIS Coronavirus (COVID-19) Information and support webpage.