Australia should have been better prepared for another COVID-19 variant such as Omicron, in order to help stop the high number of deaths in New South Wales nursing homes, a peak national aged care group says.
On another day with a high death toll, Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant revealed 31 of the 52 people who had died from COVID in the past reporting period were aged care residents.
"Of those 31 people, just two had received booster doses, 20 had received two doses of the vaccine and two had received one dose and seven were not vaccinated — again reinforcing the importance of boosters," Dr Chant said.
She also said the third dose of a vaccine was critical for the elderly.
"The single most important message I draw from looking at this data is the need to boost because once we have boosted our aged care residents, that will give them the best chance of not being impacted by COVID," she said.
Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Officer Paul Sadler said the death toll was further evidence of how treacherously dangerous the virus was for frail older people.
"We know that the booster program was really important to give an added layer of protection for older people," Mr Sadler said.
"The federal government has failed to reach all aged care services both across New South Wales and the country by its own deadline at the end of January."
As of Thursday last week, there were about 500 homes nationally that were yet to host booster clinics, he said.
He said he was disappointed the sector had again been hit hard.
"We knew there was a possibility of a wave like Omicron at some point," he said.
"We should have been better prepared. It is critical to finish the rollout as quickly as we can now.
"We should go close to 100 per cent of all the in-reach clinics being completed in early February."
Dr Chant acknowledged that keeping vulnerable people safe was difficult despite the best efforts.
"Aged care is a very challenging setting," she said.
"There are a lot of staff working in aged care, there are visitors to aged care, it is very difficult to keep COVID out of aged care despite the amazing amount of work that has been done to do so."
A spokesman for Aged Care Services Minister Richard Colbeck said the in-reach booster program had been accelerated ahead of its original schedule.
"More than 2,310 facilities have now already received booster clinics, with the remaining facilities expected to be visited by a clinic this week."
The spokesman said the program had started in early November.
"To date, more than 91 per cent of residential aged care facilities across Australia have received a COVID-19 booster clinic on-site for residents and workers who are eligible."
Providing ongoing support to facilities as Omicron spread across the country was a priority for the government, the spokesman said.
Staff and RAT shortages impact booster rollout
Mr Sadler said it had been the number of staff either infected or isolated as close contacts had been challenging.
"The federal government did get started within a week of ATAGI approving the booster rollout for Australians, but what happened was the Omicron wave in December overwhelmed the capacity of the federal government's providers," he said.
"There were clinics that were being delayed because of either outbreaks in the aged care homes or the staff in both the homes and the providers infected."
Mr Sadler said while there were more rapid antigen tests (RATs) available than a fortnight ago, it was still not enough.
"The next thing we need to have is the availability of rapid antigen tests and more personal protection equipment so staff can go back to work," he said.
"But we are still not rolling out RATs to homes that are yet to have an outbreak, so we are not stopping the disease getting in, we are just reacting when it does."
