A leading Sutherland Shire-based disability services and support organisation has welcomed news that COVID-19 vaccination of disability support workers has been mandated by the NSW Government.
The government announced on Friday, October 15, that the Public Health (COVID-19) Aged Care Facilities Public Health Order 2021 would be amended to include a new direction requiring disability support workers to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by October 25 and the second dose by November 29.
Civic Disability Services at Caringbah has 800 employees who support more than 750 individuals with disabilities. Its services extend across Greater Sydney and south to Shoalhaven.
Civic's general manager - brand experience Lizzy Fowler welcomed the mandate, which she said came after a slow start for the sector and only covered frontline workers and not all staff.
Meanwhile, Civic was working towards having 100 per cent of its staff vaccinated as an extra precaution to keep its clients safe.
"Our own vaccination policy, which will come into effect on October 31, will require all employees, contractors and visitors to be fully vaccinated," she said.
Civic's chief executive Annie Doyle wrote to Prime Minister Scott Morrison in September to call for a federal government mandate for COVID-19 vaccinations across the disability support sector.
"The pressures placed on our workforce through the most recent weeks of the pandemic, in which a significant proportion of the workforce are removed through the need to isolate as close and casual contacts, place a very real threat on our ability to deliver essential supports," she said.
"Mandating the vaccine will go some way to reducing this impact."
Ms Doyle said the risk posed by unvaccinated support workers to clients of Civic and other service providers was potentially fatal, which placed an "unacceptable risk on the safe delivery" of its services.
"As we lose support that have helped keep our workforce and clients safe throughout the pandemic, such as contact tracing and the communication of hotspot locations, the risk of a COVID-19 outbreak within our communities heightens," she said.
"Mandatory vaccination will guard against this risk."
Ms Doyle said the organisation had been supporting clients and staff to receive the vaccine since it was first made available in February 2021 under Phase 1A of the roll-out.
"Still, a small proportion of the workforce remain unvaccinated - a fact that is reflected across other disability service providers," she said.
"This places additional risk on our clients - a risk that is preventable given the mandates across both the aged and healthcare communities.
"By mandating the COVID-19 vaccine for disability service providers, the risk of contracting and passing on COVID-19 to those we are charged with supporting will be lessened considerably.
"Our clients and the community expect disability workers to be vaccinated because we care for vulnerable people. Put simply, getting vaccinated is the right thing for us to do.
"Civic will continue to advocate for the vaccine across the community."
