"Extraordinary" rejection of Greg Hunt's aged care claim
Health Minister Greg Hunt lost face after his claim that 100 percent of aged care residents have been vaccinated has been challenged by one woman who said her grandmother’s facility had not even administered the first dose.
Though Mr Hunt initially said 100 percent of Victorian residential aged care facilities have been vaccinated, he later backtracked, saying a “lack of uptake was down to residents refusing the jab”.
Now, a woman appearing on The Project has challenged his claims.
Kate Howard says her family has been desperate for her 95-year-old grandmother to be vaccinated for months, but no one in the facility where she lives has yet to receive their first dose.
“She, like the rest of our family, is incredibly keen and we have been keen since the phase 1A rollout was announced in February and we’ve done all that we can to try and make sure she is vaccinated,” Ms Howard told host Carrie Bickmore.
“We’ve been emailing since the start of March to try and get some understanding about who’s responsible and, you know, I’m over the politicking of this - I just want my grandmother vaccinated.”
Ms Howard said that despite her family signing a consent form for her grandmother’s vaccination on March 22, no residents in the home had been vaccinated. She called out Mr Hunt’s claims last week that around 97 percent of aged care facilities across all of Australia have already been vaccinated.
Do you have a family member currently in a Victorian aged care facility? Let us know in the comments if they've had their first vaccine dose, and if not, why not? #TheProjectTV pic.twitter.com/CfPXZdVpDa
— The Project (@theprojecttv) May 31, 2021
On Monday, he said vaccinations in aged care facilities were being brought forward “for those residents who did not receive first vaccinations, did not have consent of their families or provide it themselves”.
Project host Waleed Aly interjected, saying: “You said something that could potentially be a big story, if I’ve got this right - you are saying in your grandmother’s home no-one has been vaccinated?”
“No, they’ve not received one jab yet,” she replied.
“I believe less than half of the aged care workers have, off their own bat, gone and got vaccinations but the others are still remaining,” Ms Howard added.
When asked how recent her information was, Ms Howard confirmed she had received the information on Monday afternoon after getting in touch with her grandmother’s home.
Aly described the revelation as “extraordinary”.
“This makes me so angry,” Bickmore said.
“We’ve got family in aged care as well waiting for their second doses and it’s taking far too long,” she said. “Especially given what we saw happen last year.”
Image credit: Channel 10