Aged-care vaccination rates make for grim reading

Last month, almost two in three Australians older than 75 weren’t up to date with their COVID jabs. And the flu vaccination rate for people older than 65 was down from previous years.

Some groups are falling further and further behind.

Only 11 per cent of older Australians who struggle with English were up to date with their COVID vaccinations.

Older people who are poorer, or live in rural areas, are more likely to miss out too.

Last month, the Federal Government revealed the vaccination rates in different aged-care facilities.

It makes for grim reading. We already knew that only four in 10 aged-care residents in WA were up to date with their COVID vaccinations.

To put that dismal failure in context, the rate in the UK is more than double that, about nine in 10. Meanwhile, WA is barely beating Mississippi.

With this new data, we can zoom in to see where the biggest problems are.

In eight aged-care homes in WA, only a shocking one in 10 residents have been vaccinated for COVID in the past year.

There are 14 facilities where only one in 10 residents have been vaccinated for flu.

When it comes to infectious diseases, aged care residents are among the most vulnerable people in Australia. They live in group settings, so they are more likely to get infected. If they are infected, they are more to get seriously ill, be admitted to hospital, or die.

Releasing data is an important first step towards ending this scandal. A new investment that pays pharmacists to vaccinate residents in aged-care homes will also help.

Next, the Federal Government should set minimum targets for aged-care homes, and Primary Health Networks should be tasked with helping aged-care homes to meet them.

Our new Grattan Institute report shows that zooming in on low vaccination rates is crucial elsewhere too.

We found that there are big differences in vaccination rates among the patients of different GPs.

For some GPs, only about 40 per cent of their older patients are vaccinated for flu. For others, the rate is about 90 per cent.

For COVID, the bottom 5 per cent of GPs – about 1,600 GPs – have only 16 per cent of their older patients up to date with COVID vaccinations.

The rate for the top 5 per cent is nearly five times higher, at 78 per cent.

GPs are the cornerstone of our health system and they are responsible for promoting preventive care, including vaccination.

But they aren’t necessarily to blame for low vaccination rates. GPs with low vaccination rates have more patients who are poorer, sicker, and who struggle with English, all of which are barriers to vaccination.

But our analysis also shows that even GPs with similar patients, and GPs in the same neighbourhood, often have very different vaccination rates.

Just within Stirling in Perth, GP vaccination rates for COVID range from under one-in-four older patients all the way up to two in every three.

There are big gaps for flu, shingles, and pneumococcal too.

These patterns point to two things governments must do.

One is to level the playing field by making GP funding fairer. Health Minister Mark Butler should take his initial funding reforms further, to ensure clinics with sicker and poorer patients get more money. That will help them spend time with patients who may need more explanation, reassurance, and support to get vaccinated.

And Primary Health Networks should regularly give data to all GP clinics, showing them how their vaccination rates compare to similar clinics.

Then, Primary Health Networks should find out what’s going right in clinics that are doing well, so they can spread best practices. The networks should also find out what’s going wrong in clinics that are doing poorly and offer them help to do better.

That might mean extra resources to combat misinformation, more staff to vaccinate patients, translation support, or helping connect patients to their pharmacy to get vaccinated there.

Australia needs a comprehensive strategy to lift adult vaccination rates, including advertising campaigns, SMS reminders for high-risk people, and tailored local programs that work with communities with the lowest rates of vaccination.

But governments must also address the big imbalances in our health system, because resources don’t go where they are most needed and too often problem areas are left to fester.

Better data are available. Governments must use them to focus funding and support, so that every vulnerable Australian can get potentially life-saving preventive health care, including vaccines.