People with disability in Australia

Introduction

Many people with disability are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19, due both to direct impacts of any underlying chronic conditions and to possible challenges maintaining physical distancing and applying other COVID-19 precautions (Department of Health 2021a).  For these reasons, people with disability were one of the priority groups to become eligible for COVID-19 vaccination in the early stages of Australia’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout strategy (Department of Health 2021b).

This section provides information on experiences of people with disability with COVID-19 vaccination, as well as on the number of COVID-19 cases among NDIS participants. Note that population-wide administrative data sources about COVID-19 infections, vaccinations and deaths do not include information about disability status, limiting the information currently available about the direct impacts of the virus on people with disability to survey data and the subset of the population who are NDIS participants.

COVID-19 cases among NDIS participants

The NDIA collaborated with other government agencies (including the Department of Social Services, the NDIS Quality and Safeguards Commission, Services Australia, and state and territory governments) to support NDIS participants through the pandemic.

As of May 2022:

• A total of 12,721 COVID-19 cases had been reported among NDIS participants.
• There were 74 COVID-19 related deaths (0.6% of NDIS participant cases) (Department of Health 2022). ​

Experiences of COVID-19 vaccination

Based on the Household Impacts of COVID-19 Survey data, in June 2021, adults with disability were more likely than those without disability to report:

• having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine (46% of adults with disability compared with 28% of adults without disability)
• having received their vaccination from their usual GP (50% compared with 31%)
• being motivated to get a vaccine because
  • it was recommended by a GP or other health professional (38% compared with 28%)
  • ­they had health conditions which made them more vulnerable to COVID-19 (28% compared with 13%) (ABS 2021d).

Among those who had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine:

• 75% of adults with disability and 73% of those without disability reported that it was very easy to get a COVID-19 vaccination, with 2.9% and 2.1% reporting that it was not at all easy
• the most commonly reported factors which affected their ability to get a COVID-19 vaccination were
  • waiting time to get an appointment too long (7.8% for adults with disability and 8.6% for adults without disability)
  • ­wanting a different vaccine to what was available to them (6.0% and 2.8%)
  • ­difficulty in finding out how to get a vaccine (5.5% and 3.6%) (ABS 2021d).

Among those who had not had, or were not sure if they had had, a vaccination:

• 74% of adults with disability and 77% of adults without disability reported knowing where to get a vaccination
• the most common reported factors that affected, or would affect, the ability to get a COVID-19 vaccination for themselves were
  • wanting a different vaccine to what was available to them; this response was more likely for adults with disability (24%) than those without disability (12%)
  • ­waiting time to get an appointment too long (9.2% and 12%) (ABS 2021d).

Attitudes to COVID-19 vaccination

In June 2021, people with and without disability said that their decision whether to get vaccinated for COVID-19 most depended on (Figure COVID.5):

• recommendation from GP or other health professional, with this response more likely for adults with disability (33%) than those without disability (20%) (of those who said they would get vaccinated or were not sure)
• recommendation of the Department of Health, with this response similarly likely for adults with disability (15%) and those without disability (20%)
• whether the vaccine had been in use for a long time with no serious side effects, with this response less likely for adults with disability (12%) than for those without disability (20%) (ABS 2021d).

These results were generally similar for February, April and May 2021 except (Figure COVID.5):

• in February 2021, more adults with disability chose the recommendation of the Department of Health as the reason (25% compared with 15% in June 2021)
• fewer people named the reason as whether the vaccine had been in use for a long time with no serious side effects in June 2021 than did in February (12% of adults with disability and 20% of those without disability in June 2021, compared with 21% and 29% in February 2021) (ABS 2021a, 2021d).

In June 2021, 13% of adults with disability said they would not get a COVID-19 vaccination when it became available and was recommended to them, and a further 13% were not sure. Proportions were similar for those without disability.

For adults with and without disability who said they would not get a vaccination or were not sure, the main reasons for both groups in June 2021 were (Figure COVID.6):

• concerns relating to potential side effects (53% and 52%)
• concerns about the effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine (8.5% and 16%)
• health or medical condition (8.0% and 7.6%) (ABS 2021d).

Comparing these results with data collected in December 2020, and February, April and May 2021:

• concerns about effectiveness and side effects of the vaccine had fallen between December 2020 and February 2021 for both groups, after which the proportions choosing these reasons remained relatively stable
• there appears to be a downward trend in the proportions of people saying their health or medical condition is the main reason not to get vaccinated, however the numbers of people choosing this response were too small to say whether this trend is significant (ABS 2020, 2021a, 2021b, 2021c).