In response to feedback from the aged care sector, the Federal Department of Health has extended and streamlined the Request for Tenders (RFT) for providers wishing to vaccinate workers against COVID-19.

14 residential aged care providers are currently delivering Pfizer COVID-19 vaccination clinics for nearly 40,000 workers through the RFT process.

The process to support providers to conduct their own on-site vaccination clinics for workers has also been streamlined from 80 pages to 11.

“The advantage is providers can choose when to run the clinics and over what period to enable all workers to be vaccinated as quickly and safely as possible. Any residents not yet vaccinated are also able to receive Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines at these clinics,” said the Department.

As of last Friday, 141,792 (51%) of aged care workers nation-wide have received their first COVID-19 jab, with 88,595 (32%) fully vaccinated.

The Federal Government’s COVID-19 vaccine workforce providers have held 197 clinics across the nation for residential aged care workers and residents not yet vaccinated over the past two weeks. The roving clinics offer a Pfizer vaccine to any residents and workers who are not yet vaccinated and who wish to receive a vaccination.

In NSW, roving vaccination clinics are returning to 302 aged care facilities in 23 local government areas to provide a first dose of vaccine to residents and workers. Since the roving clinic rollout began in late June, 229 of the 302 facilities have received a first dose roving clinic, and 157 have received a second dose roving clinic. In total, these roving clinics have vaccinated 3,120 residents and 17,181 workers.

Residential aged care workers are being given priority access across all primary care sites, including GPs and Commonwealth vaccination clinics (CVCs), and state and territory mass vaccination sites. Additional dedicated Pfizer vaccine has been allocated to all 31 Primary Health Networks across Australia for residential aged care workers.

This means increased capacity for GPs and CVCs to vaccinate workers on-site at aged care facilities or as part of their existing clinic arrangements. These clinics are organised between the residential aged care facility and their Primary Health Network.