Disabled people were meant to be one of the first priorities for the vaccine rollout, but far too many of us are still not fully vaccinated.

The latest figures show that just over 50% of disabled people who live in group homes are fully protected, and 26.9 per cent of the 267,526 NDIS participants aged over 16 are fully vaccinated. That is not good enough and needs urgent action.

It has been made far too difficult for people to access vaccines, between red tape, lack of vaccines, misinformation and a serious lack of flexible ways to meet disabled peoples needs. 

We are now seeing disabled people who live in group homes getting sick with COVID, as well as COVID contacts in disability services, such as day programs.

We call on the NSW and Federal Government to take urgent action now to put disabled people first, and make sure we are protected from COVID.

The NSW Government must urgently:

• Coordinate with the Federal Government to action an urgent vaccination plan for disabled people living in group homes in Phase 1A and disabled people in Phase 1B, as well as their close contacts - families, children, friends, support workers.
• Ensure accessible vaccinations are widely available, including at home, and priority booking and access at hubs and GP clinics.
• Provide up to date guidance to all Australian Disability Enterprises and other disability programs and facilities to stop the spread of COVID.
• Provide accessible and up to date information in a variety of formats and languages for disabled people and their families about all lockdown rules and changes.
• Work with key contact points in health where people with disability are known to staff to reach marginalised disabled people.

The Federal Government must urgently:

• Develop  an urgent vaccination plan for disabled people living in group homes in Phase 1A and disabled people in Phase 1B, as well as their close contacts - families, children, friends, support workers, to be implemented in the next four weeks, in coordination with the NSW Government.
• Develop an immediate plan to fully vaccinate disabled people not in Phase 1A, living and working in any congregate setting, including boarding houses and Australian Disability Enterprises.
• Provide paid support for disability support workers to get vaccinated, for any vaccine side effects, to take leave if they have symptoms of COVID, and to reduce movement across different group homes.
• Get the NDIA and the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission to take immediate action to enforce COVID rules in disability services, and to ensure disabled people and their families have what they need to stay safe from COVID, including continuity of supports.
• Release regular, up to date data about vaccination numbers for all disabled people in all Phases of the vaccine rollout, separate from aged care data, as well as disability support workers.