News

New COVID-19 Vaccine Support Program 

Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Support Program

At Guide Dogs NSW/ACT, the health and wellbeing of our Clients, staff, volunteers, donors and dogs is our number one priority. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, we have been keeping ourselves updated and following Government advice daily in order to keep the Guide Dogs NSW/ACT community safe and well.

As advice from both State and Federal Governments – and Australia’s top medical advisors – is encouraging the Australian community to get vaccinated, we want to ensure Clients like yourself have support in place to access vaccination bookings, appointments, and easy access to your COVID-19 digital certificate.

We have updated our COVID-19 Vaccine Support Program to assist Clients receiving the COVID-19 vaccination and access the COVID-19 digital certificate. 

The range of supports can be individually tailored to your needs, and have been developed in response to a recent Client survey where many of you told us how you have experienced difficulties with booking systems, on-site access and certificate access. You have told us how this is affecting your confidence and mobility.

All support provided as part of the COVID-19 Vaccination Support Program is donor-funded, and no external funding sources available to Clients will be used. You are not required to have a recent Guide Dogs Service Agreement to access this service.

You can request support through this service by calling us on 1800 436 364 and selecting the Vaccine Support option on the phone system (option 5).

Support is provided initially through our Enquiries and Intake team who can:

• Connect you with Department of Health vaccine information, including general COVID-19 information, vaccine eligibility criteria, available COVID-19 vaccines, and COVID testing information.
• Support you to make a vaccination appointment booking on NSW and ACT Health booking systems.
• Support you to make a vaccination appointment booking on a non-government booking system.
• Support you to access your COVID-19 digital certificate.
• Discuss options for informal and formal supports that will assist you while attending an appointment. We can also discuss any issues you may be experiencing accessing COVID-19 testing sites.
• Arrange reasonable financial assistance to access a taxi to assist you to get to and from their vaccination appointment.
• Discuss options for Orientation and Mobility assistance to be provided to you remotely using technology.

This service does not extend to medical advice of any sort. For any medical advice, we recommend you talk to your GP.

We hope you are keeping safe and well at this time, and that this new service will provide you with the support you need should you choose to access vaccination bookings, appointments and certificates.