PM doesn’t understand the reality

An article that is long overdue (Karen Middleton, “Vaccine bottleneck”, July 31– August 6). Of course, home care is a misnomer. It is not homes that are being cared for but the persons who live in them and are often locked down in them. I have been trying for more than 18 months to get someone, anyone, to understand the complexities of it all ever since one of my carers was trapped in Bali early in the pandemic. I tried to take up the banner again when another of my carers was in isolation for 14 days because her partner was a direct contact of someone infected with the Delta variant. I have four personal care services each week with each service provided by a different carer. If any one of those is unable to work a particular shift, then another carer fills in. That is up to eight essential workers in and out of my home each month. My service provider does not facilitate the vaccination of its employees, and at this stage not one of my carers is fully vaccinated. They work full-time out in the community and they are required to organise their own vaccinations. Those of us who are immunocompromised are at greatest risk. I listen to each new happy-chappy announcement the prime minister makes with increasing despair. He does not understand how the real care systems that underpin Australian society operate. It would be useful if the National Covid Vaccine Taskforce could identify the multitude of health and wellbeing programs that holds us all together, and give the prime minister a few lessons in logistics. A crash course in leadership would be useful, too. – Lesley Carbery, Cobbitty, NSW