As preparations for the COVID-19 vaccine roll-out begin across Australia, the federal government is urgently requesting information from providers of group disability accommodation. NDIS participants and workers at group disability accommodation settings will be among the first groups in Australia to be offered the COVID-19 vaccines. If you’re a provider of group disability accommodation, the government is asking for your help so that they can effectively roll-out the COVID-19 vaccines.
What they would like you to do is complete an online form with some basic information about your disability accommodation site. You will need to complete the form by 12 noon (AEDT), Tuesday 2 February, 2021.
The 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 don’t provide group disability accommodation, you don’t need to do anything.
What information do they need?
The initial information required for each provider’s disability accommodation site include:
- 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 individual participants and staff or consent for vaccination is not being collected as part of this form. This information will be gathered later.
To ensure people in priority groups can be offered the vaccines at the earliest opportunity, it’s critical to submit the form as soon as possible. While information can be provided after the deadline, any delay may impact on the timing for vaccinations to be administered at your sites.
What about NDIS participants in aged care facilities?
Information on all people in residential aged care settings (including NDIS participants) will be collected separately by the Department of Health.
Who will be offered the first COVID-19 vaccines?
Residents and workers at group disability accommodation settings will be among the first people in Australia to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine (along with quarantine and border workers, frontline healthcare workers, aged care staff and residents), this will be known as phase 1a of the roll-out.
The roll-out of the vaccines for these priority groups is expected to commence in mid to-late February 2021, which is why the government is requesting urgent assistance to help ensure the process runs smoothly. This will be the largest and most complex vaccination roll-out in Australia’s history, so this information is vital to assist with the implementation and any issues that may arise.
As mentioned above, information should be provided using an online form by 12 noon (AEDT), Tuesday 2 February 2021.
