news
Flu jab law mooted
Deaths spark move to make influenza
vaccine compulsory for aged care staff.
H
ealth Minister Greg Hunt has announced the government
will investigate ways to make the flu vaccine compulsory
for workers in aged care facilities.
The investigation follows the deaths of seven elderly residents at
St John’s Village in Wangaratta in Victoria and reports of fatalities
from flu at Uniting AgeWell’s Strathdevon facility in Tasmania.
Minister for Aged Care Ken Wyatt said while older people
are always vulnerable to the flu, the many deaths this year are
unacceptable.
Hunt said he will work with medical authorities, healthcare
workers and aged care providers on how to make jabs compulsory
for those working in aged care facilities. Australia’s chief
medical officer, professor Brendan Murphy, will spearhead the
investigation.
“We cannot continue to have a situation where people whose
immunity is already low are at risk from others who may be
infected,” Hunt said.
COTA Australia backed the move. Chief executive Ian Yates
said he had for some time been concerned that rates of flu
vaccination among aged care staff, and even among doctors who
visit facilities, were unacceptably low and inconsistent between
facilities.
“Aged care residents are especially vulnerable to the flu and all
precautions must be put in place to protect them,” Yates said.
“Vaccination is less effective among very old people, which
makes them more susceptible if exposed to others with symptoms,
and many residents have other health issues that make them more
vulnerable.
“Keeping flu out of aged care homes is also critical because it
can spread so quickly from resident to resident.
“Aged care providers have a legal obligation to achieve optimum
physical health for care recipients and to ensure they live in a safe
environment.
“In our view, this includes ensuring that staff are not carriers of
the flu virus into nursing homes.”
The health minister’s office said 90,000 cases of influe