Less than a third of staff at a Newcastle aged care facility hit with a Covid-19 outbreak have been vaccinated, just over a month before the entire workforce will be required to have received at least one dose.
Eleven residents and three staff at the private RFBI Hawkins Masonic Village aged care facility in Edgeworth have contracted the virus since a worker who later tested positive finished his shift on 4 August.
Frank Price, the chief executive of the Royal Freemasons’ Benevolent Institution, which operates the facility, said that 10 of the 11 positive residents were vaccinated, but that staff had found it more difficult to access a vaccination.
Only 30% of staff have received at least one dose of the vaccine so far.
Of three staff members who have tested positive, one had received a single dose of Pfizer and was due to receive his second on Sunday, Price said, but the two other staff members were not vaccinated.
“They had appointments to be, but as you probably know, vaccines have been hard to come by … access was the issue” he said.
The staff member who had received one dose of Pfizer felt unwell and tried to get a Covid-19 test on Saturday, Price said, but left a testing facility because of the delay. He returned on Sunday to be tested, and returned a positive result on Monday.
Two other staff who were deemed close contacts left the facility later that day and have since tested positive.
Price said it was a “very trying time for our staff and our residents” and he expected more cases, despite no residents displaying symptoms.
“It would be foolish to assume we won’t have any more positive cases, it would be a wonderful outcome but I don’t expect that to be the case.”
The vaccine rollout in aged care has been beset with issues, and last month it was reported the rate of vaccination among workers in some facilities could be as low as 5%.
Price said a shortage of workers was his greatest concern with the outbreak in NSW showing no sign of slowing.
“We’re trying to agitate with the government to make sure aged care workers become part of the priority migration list.
“We’ll quarantine them, we’ll … accommodate them, we’ll give them the training, we just need them to be on the list.
“If they’re not, this industry is going to hit the wall in the very near future.”
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, was asked during question time on Thursday about vaccination rates in the facility by Labor MP Sharon Claydon, the member for Newcastle.
“These workers were meant to be fully vaccinated by Easter. Who is the prime minister going to blame for this one?” Claydon asked.
Morrison referred the question to the health minister, Greg Hunt, who noted that all residents had been offered the vaccine but did not directly comment on vaccine access for staff. He said 28 staff were fully vaccinated, and a further 17 had received one dose.
Price told Guardian Australia about 140 staff work at the centre. He confirmed on Thursday afternoon that there had been no further positive cases recorded.
Guardian Australia reported on Tuesday about a looming shortage of at least 110,000 aged care workers that is expected in the next decade.
