28 January 2022

Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines: Department of Health Disability Provider Alert (20 January 2022)

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

NOTE: This is a re-issue of the alert that was sent earlier today, which contained an incorrect date regarding the new practice standards that registered providers must comply with. The date has been corrected below. 

Key points

• The Department of Health has issued a new Disability Provider Alert.
• All NDIS participants and disability workers are strongly encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19. Information and support to access COVID-19 vaccinations should be facilitated, to both NDIS participants and workers.

Department of Health provider alert (20 January 2022)

The Department of Health has issued a COVID-19 vaccination – Disability Provider Alert - 20 January 2022.

The alert contains important information about the continued rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine, including:

• guidance from the NDIS Commission on supporting access to boosters
• booster doses and in-reach vaccination services to residential accommodation settings
• other booster vaccine pathways
• TGA approval of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine for 5 to 11-year-olds
• ATAGI statement on Omicron variant and timing of COVID-19 booster doses
• temporary changes to COVID-19 pricing arrangements announced by the NDIA
• a link to the webinar recording of the COVID-19 vaccination consent, hesitancy and refusal webinar that was held on 7 December 2021
• new practice standards released by the NDIS Commission for emergency and disaster management - registered providers must comply with these new standards and related quality indicators from 24 January 2022
• vaccination hubs for people with disability, their carers and disability workers
• support services for people with disability and their support networks via the National Coronavirus helpline (phone 1800 020 080) and the Disability Gateway.

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

Promoting access to COVID-19 vaccinations and boosters

Supporting NDIS participants to access COVID-19 vaccinations

All NDIS participants aged 5 years and over are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine. Participants aged 18 and older are also eligible for a booster dose if they have completed their primary course of a COVID-19 vaccination at least four months ago. Some states and territories have moved to include people who completed a primary course at least 3 months ago. Providers should monitor state and territory government information regarding booster timeframes.

We have published a statement about the right of people with disability to make their own decision about COVID-19 vaccination, and the role of NDIS providers and workers in supporting participants. This was sent to registered providers on 5 November 2021. 

Providers should take all steps to assist participants that they support to access the vaccination where they need assistance to do so, including boosters. Further information is available on the Department of Health website, including Easy Read and Auslan resources.

Our provider alert of 9 June 2021 contained resources to help you to support participants 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 Department of Health has published a COVID-19 vaccination consent form in easy read format.

To assist people with disability to learn more about COVID-19 booster doses, the Department of Health has also developed the following easy read resources:

• Fact sheet about the third dose
• Fact sheet about the booster dose
• Fact sheet about the difference between the third dose and a booster dose.

Vaccination advice and information for disability workers

All states and territories have issued public health orders or directions (with mandatory COVID-19 vaccination requirements for workers, including disability workers):

• Victoria
• Northern Territory
• New South Wales
• Western Australia
• Australian Capital Territory
• Tasmania
• South Australia
• Queensland

Providers are strongly encouraged to check the details of the public health orders in the states or territories in which they operate and any updated requirements for providers in respect of the vaccination status of disability workers, including any requirements for booster doses.

Our 22 November 2021 provider alert was sent to NDIS providers that are registered to deliver intensive support services to NDIS participants. It contained details about a request for information under the National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 regarding the COVID-19 vaccination status of workers. It is a condition of registration that registered providers comply with such a notice under the NDIS Act and providers are strongly encouraged to take any necessary steps to comply with the notice.

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 vaccine 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.