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Pull away the safety net.

The Australian Government’s Covid vaccine injury compensation scheme ends today, leaving anyone injured by the ongoing administration of these vaccines without a safety net.

Source: Services Australia

The federal compensation scheme was initially put in place to “provide Australians with quick access to compensation for COVID-19 claims” should they suffer injury or loss of income due to their Covid vaccination. The government also offered to pay funeral costs for vaccine deaths.

This was necessary for two reasons. One, the government indemnified the vaccine manufacturers under the guidance of the World Health Organisation (WHO), meaning that Australians injured by the vaccines (or families of the deceased) cannot sue the manufacturers for compensation.

Second, state and territory governments mandated the vaccines for work, travel and hospital/aged care visiting rights to achieve over 95% double dose coverage,¹ removing the possibility of informed consent for people who got vaccinated to prevent job loss or family separation, not the virus.

In reality, it was a narrow scheme that covered only 10 conditions out of 4,000 adverse reaction types reported to the DAEN and required applicants to submit up to 1,000 pages of paperwork with an average processing time of between 200 and 450 days.

Image edited by Rebekah Barnett. Source: DAEN

Paltry, But Something

As of 31st March this year, only 324 claims had been paid out, fewer than 10% of the 4,282 claims that had been submitted to the scheme, Services Australia advised in a Senate committee hearing.

Source: X

The most recent payout figures, reported by SBS, show that the government has paid out only $32 million to compensate injured Australians, compared to its $18 billion investment in Covid treatments, including the purchase of 12 vaccine doses of what was believed at the time to be a two-dose regimen for every Australian (at least 1/3 of these 267 million doses have since been binned).

Nevertheless, for all its shortcomings, there was a safety net of sorts in place, at least in the minds of the general public.

Now, the safety net is gone.

Off to get your ninth booster?

You’re on your own!

Finally obtained a formal diagnosis for the Covid vaccine injury that you sustained a year ago?

Tough luck.

I asked the Department of Health what pathway it recommends to Australians injured by the Covid vaccines now that the federal compensation scheme has come to an end.

A spokesperson emailed a cut-and-paste response,

“The COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme was established by the then Government on 13 December 2021 as a no-fault, time-limited claims Scheme to respond to the unprecedented immediate circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The Scheme was originally due to close in April 2024. It was agreed by Government in the 2023-24 Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook that the Scheme would close to new claims on 30 September 2024. Claims submitted by that date will continue to be assessed in line with the Scheme Policy.”

I replied, reiterating my question,

“What would the Department suggest to Australians injured by Covid vaccines who have not managed to claim compensation by the cut-off date, or who are injured thereafter?”

The Department replied… Just kidding! The Department did not respond to several follow-up requests.

I cannot think of a more effective campaign to drive vaccine hesitancy than the conduct of the Australian Government on this issue.

A Covid vaccine injury class action may now be the only avenue available to injured Australians who wish to seek compensation.

1,800 Australians have already expressed their interest in joining the action, many of whom could not qualify for the stringent federal compensation scheme despite being diagnosed with life-altering injuries.

Learn more about the class action, led by Queensland firm NR Barbi Solicitor, here.

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Republished with thanks to Dystopian Down Under. Image courtesy of Adobe.