01-13-2021, 10:02 AM
Covid: Vaccine plea for learning disabled home residents
Adults with learning disabilities who live in supported housing should be a higher priority for the Covid-19 vaccination, campaigners have
said.
An academic said people with learning disabilities aged over 35 were at the same risk of dying as those over 80.
A parents and carers' group want them vaccinated in the same round as health and social care workers and over-80s.
The Welsh Government said the priority groups were set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
There are about 3,500 adults with learning disabilities living in supported accommodation in Wales.
People with learning disabilities are six times more likely to die from the virus than people of the same age and sex, according to a recent
report from Public Health England.
Anyone under 70 who is "clinically extremely vulnerable" is in the fourth group on the priority list, while those paid to care for people with
learning disabilities in supported living are in the second.
'Forgotten about'
Pauline Dowden's son Steven, 36, is profoundly autistic with severe learning disabilities and lives in supported accommodation in Rhondda
Cynon Taf.
Mrs Dowden said: "His oral skills are very poor, and his speech is like a two-year-old's. He's also very obese, 6ft 3in, and 32 stone.
He was always big but he's put on a lot of weight since the Covid outbreak, because his activities - like walking, swimming and basketball -
stopped."
Steven has a team of 10 carers who work in shifts to care for him 24 hours a day.
'Disparity'
Kate Young, director of the All Wales Forum of Parents and Carers of People with Learning Disabilities, said there should be a similar
system to care home settings where residents and staff are in the same priority group.
Ms Young said adults with learning disabilities were more vulnerable, and as the number living in supported housing was fairly small it
would be "illogical" not to vaccinate them at the same time as their carers.
"When it comes to supported living it feels like we have a disparity," Ms Young added.
Read the news here. : เกมสล็อตมือถือ
Adults with learning disabilities who live in supported housing should be a higher priority for the Covid-19 vaccination, campaigners have
said.
An academic said people with learning disabilities aged over 35 were at the same risk of dying as those over 80.
A parents and carers' group want them vaccinated in the same round as health and social care workers and over-80s.
The Welsh Government said the priority groups were set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.
There are about 3,500 adults with learning disabilities living in supported accommodation in Wales.
People with learning disabilities are six times more likely to die from the virus than people of the same age and sex, according to a recent
report from Public Health England.
Anyone under 70 who is "clinically extremely vulnerable" is in the fourth group on the priority list, while those paid to care for people with
learning disabilities in supported living are in the second.
'Forgotten about'
Pauline Dowden's son Steven, 36, is profoundly autistic with severe learning disabilities and lives in supported accommodation in Rhondda
Cynon Taf.
Mrs Dowden said: "His oral skills are very poor, and his speech is like a two-year-old's. He's also very obese, 6ft 3in, and 32 stone.
He was always big but he's put on a lot of weight since the Covid outbreak, because his activities - like walking, swimming and basketball -
stopped."
Steven has a team of 10 carers who work in shifts to care for him 24 hours a day.
'Disparity'
Kate Young, director of the All Wales Forum of Parents and Carers of People with Learning Disabilities, said there should be a similar
system to care home settings where residents and staff are in the same priority group.
Ms Young said adults with learning disabilities were more vulnerable, and as the number living in supported housing was fairly small it
would be "illogical" not to vaccinate them at the same time as their carers.
"When it comes to supported living it feels like we have a disparity," Ms Young added.
Read the news here. : เกมสล็อตมือถือ