The health and safety of our clients and employees are of the highest importance to us. As such, Open Minds is treating COVID-19 as a top priority and is taking all possible steps to reduce the risks to our clients, their families, our employees and the wider community.
You can find resources and information about the COVID-19 vaccine rollout from:
- The Department of Health’s dedicated COVID-19 vaccine webpages for disability service providers, disability support workers and people with disability. A range of Easy Read and Auslan resources about COVID-19 vaccines is also available.
- The Department of Health has also developed fact sheets, guides and posters to help understand the vaccination process and prepare for it.
- The NDIS Commission has a Coronavirus (COVID-19) information webpage containing links to updates, training, alerts and other resources. They have a COVID-19 vaccine information page for providers and for people with disability, a COVID-19 webpage and a COVID-19 vaccines webpage.
- Open Minds has created a COVID-19 Vaccine Information Sheet to help clients easily understand more about the vaccination.
- The COVID-19 vaccine eligibility checker will help find out if you are now eligible to receive the vaccination and when you can receive it.
- Still unsure? Calling the National Coronavirus Helpline on 1800 020 080 is another option to help you answer any questions.
Vaccination consent form
Did you know that NDIS participants must provide informed consent for any medical treatments or procedures, including the COVID-19 vaccine?
To support NDIS providers to get informed consent, a COVID-19 vaccination consent form has been developed by the Department of Health and is recommended to be used to ensure people have given full consent for all aspects of the vaccination process. Where this form is not used, providers may be required to undertake additional work with a participant to cover all the required information and this may cause a delay to vaccination.
NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission have developed a helpful fact sheet COVID-19 Vaccines: Informed consent, preparing for the vaccine, and restrictive practices which explains registered NDIS providers’ obligations when supporting people to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. An Easy Read resource on consent is also available.