The Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission has ramped up pressure on aged care providers that are neglecting their responsibility to ensure residents remain vaccinated against COVID-19, revealing it will be making unannounced visits to homes that let vaccination rates languish.
The warning comes as data from the Department of Health and Aged Care revealed that in the week to 12 June 2024 only 40.3% of aged care residents had received a booster dose in the last 6 months, the recommended dose for over 75s, down from 41.6% the previous week, despite high rates of the virus in the community and residential aged care. In the week to 13 June, 487 homes were impacted by outbreaks, and more than 4,000 staff and residents contracted the illness.
The warning comes only weeks after Aged Care Quality and Safety Commissioner Janet Anderson (pictured right) and Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly wrote to providers warning of the surge in COVID-19 and flu cases and urging them to keep vaccinations up.
Now, four years since the COVID-19 pandemic began, the regulator says aged care providers are "on notice" and "there is no excuse for any residential aged care service to be under-prepared for COVID-19".
The regulator will be making unannounced visits to aged care homes with low vaccination rates to determine the reason for the situation and what the providers are doing about it. The regulator will also write to aged care homes with low vaccination rates to remind them of their obligations.
“Where we find that a provider lacks interest and/or capability to take the necessary action, and their ongoing inattention to this vital preventative measure is placing residents in harm’s way, there will be regulatory consequences,” the Commissioner said.
The Department of Health and Aged Care is releasing data on vaccination rates for every aged care home in Australia. The regulator also issued a Bulletin reminding providers of their responsibilities, available here.
