Injured Australians Deserve Better

Hello, I’m Russell Broadbent, Member for Monash Covid-19 vaccine injuries have taken a shocking toll on thousands of Australians and their families. And to make matters even worse, the medical system and government compensation scheme are adding insult to their injuries. I’ve engaged with literally hundreds of vaccine injured Australians and they have told me first-hand how difficult it is to access the Covid-19 vaccine injury compensation scheme due to the narrow criteria and the glacially slow processing of claims. In a recent Senate Inquiry Rado Faletic – Co-Director of CoVerse, an organisation for people who have suffered Covid-19 vaccine injuries – testified by saying: “The scheme was designed so narrowly that hardly any of us qualify for it. If you happened to have myocarditis from the Pfizer vaccine, and you were hospitalised… lucky you. You might be able to get compensation. But if you had the Astra Zeneca vaccine and got the same health condition, (then) ‘suck eggs….” He went on to say: “Despite many of us over the course of the past few years screaming at the tops of our voices – nothing has changed.” This is unconscionable, unacceptable, and un-Australian. It was recently reported that of the 4069 claims submitted so far, only 256 have been compensated - paying out almost $19 million to injured people. But we know this is only the tip of the iceberg. A US analysis of adverse event reports from December 2020 to July 2022 showed 770 different types of adverse events of statistical significance. The Australian Government will only compensate for 11 of these. I’ll put a link to these adverse events in the comments section so you can view it yourself. With more than 1000 claims still to be processed, the scheme is set to close to new applicants on 30 September 2024. Where will that leave the countless others who fail to meet the extremely restrictive criteria? The Australian people trusted the government to protect them with a so-called ‘safe and effective’ vaccine, and help them if anything went wrong. But that’s not what is happening. These injured Australians deserve better. And that’s justice as I see it.