26 August 2021

 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccines: Australian Government Department of Health Disability Provider Alert (24 August 2021)

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.
• An online meeting will take place on Wednesday 1 September 2021 at 11.00am AEST to discuss the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and to answer questions from people with intellectual disability and their support networks.
• A recording and transcript of the webinar that was recently held for people with disability and their support networks is now available on the Department of Health website.
• Information and support to access COVID-19 vaccinations should be facilitated, to both NDIS participants and workers.

Department of Health provider alert (24 August 2021)

The Department of Health has issued a COVID-19 vaccination – Disability Provider Alert (24 August 2021).

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

• the priority Pfizer vaccination blitz for people aged 16 – 39 years in Greater Sydney
• Victorian Government announcement about the vaccination blitz for aged care and disability workforce
• information on current hubs offering vaccination services
• recommendations by Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) on children 12 -15 years of age
• a reminder about the new Vaccine Administration Service (VAS) Providers that have joined the Phase 1a in-reach program.

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

Online meeting resources for people with disability

Upcoming online meeting: Getting your vaccine: information for people with intellectual disability

The Department of Health is hosting an online meeting on Wednesday 1 September 2021 at 11.00am AEST to discuss the importance of COVID-19 vaccines and to answer questions from people with intellectual disability and their support networks.

Supported by Inclusion Australia, the panel will consist of:

• Professor Nick Lennox, Senior Medical Advisor for Disability and Health at the Department of Health. Nick has worked as a medical practitioner with people with intellectual disability over many years.
• Tara Elliffe, a self-advocate from NSW who has had a COVID-19 jab. Tara will talk about her experience and why getting the jab was important to her.

Follow this link to register to attend.

Webinar recording: Meeting with people with disability, their families and carers

The Department of Health recently held a webinar for people with disability and their support networks to answer questions about the COVID-19 vaccination program.

A recording of the webinar and transcript is now available on the Department of Health website.

We strongly encourage you to share this information with the people with intellectual 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 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 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 strongly encourage you to visit these resources and share them with the people with disability that you support.

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