29 July 2021

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines: Australian Government Department of Health Disability Provider Alert (26 July 2021)​

NOTE: This is a re-issue of the alert that was sent yesterday - it contained an incorrect link to the Disability Provider Alert from the Department of Health. The links have now been corrected.

The Australian Government Department of Health (Department of Health) has issued a Disability Provider Alert with updated information for disability providers.  

Key points

• The Department of Health has issued a new Disability Provider Alert.
• The alert contains information about vaccination hubs and appointments for eligible disability and aged care workers.
• A webinar for people with disability and their support networks is scheduled for 5 August 2021.
• Information and support to access COVID-19 vaccinations should be facilitated, to both NDIS participants and workers.

Department of Health provider alert (26 July 2021)

The Department of Health has issued a COVID-19 vaccination – Disability Provider Alert (26 July 2021).

In NSW, Sonic Healthcare have opened new vaccination hubs that cater for eligible disability and aged care workers in Belmont, Lake Macquarie and also in the Sydney CBD. They will be opening vaccination hubs in Macquarie Fields by the end of July, and in Wollongong in August.

In Canberra, there are a limited number of appointments available for disability and aged care workers to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination.

We encourage you to read the provider alert for full details.

Webinar for people with disability and their support networks

A webinar for people with disability and their support networks is scheduled for 5 August 2021.

The panel, who will answer questions about the vaccination program, will be:

• Professor Alison McMillan - Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer
• Dr Steph Davis - Deputy Chief Medical Officer
• Ms Chris Faulkner - Assistant Secretary, COVID-19 Task Force – Disability

Information about the start time and how to access the webinar will be included in the next Department of Health disability provider alert.

We strongly encourage you to share this information with the people with disability that you support, and their support networks.

Promoting access to COVID-19 Vaccinations

Information about access to COVID-19 vaccinations should be promoted, to both the NDIS participants you support and your workers.

Supporting NDIS participants to access COVID-19 vaccinations

Our provider alert of 9 June 2021 contained resources to help you to support them to understand the vaccination process and to provide informed consent.

Our fact sheet, called ‘COVID-19 Vaccines: Informed consent, preparing for the vaccine, and restrictive practices’, aims to assist NDIS providers to better understand their obligations when supporting people with disability to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

The Australian Government Department of Health (Department of Health) has published an information page on their website for people with disability about COVID-19 vaccines. This page contains important information for providers and participants about COVID-19 vaccines, and will be updated regularly. A range of Easy Read and Auslan resources about the COVID-19 vaccines are also available.

We encourage you to visit this page.

Vaccination advice and information for disability workers

The Department of Health issued a Disability Provider Alert on 12 July 2021. This alert contained strong encouragement from National Cabinet for all disability workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19, to protect your own health and the health of the people with disability you support.

We encourage you to read the full details in the alert.

The Department of Health has dedicated information pages for disability service providers about COVID-19 vaccines.

• Providers: The webpage for disability service providers contains information and resources to help you plan for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.
• Disability workers: The webpage for disability workers contains information and resources about COVID-19 vaccines for disability workers.

The Department of Health will continue to update the information on these pages, so we strongly encourage you to visit these pages regularly.

NDIS Commission COVID-19 information and resources

The COVID-19 vaccine information webpage on our website contains links to updates about COVID-19 vaccines and resources for NDIS providers.

We also have a COVID-19 vaccine webpage containing information for people with disability.

Contact us

Call: 1800 035 544 (free call from landlines). Our contact centre is open 9.00am to 5.00pm (9.00am to 4.30pm in the NT) Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.

Email: contactcentre@ndiscommission.gov.au

Website: www.ndiscommission.gov.au