Open Letter: Fixing the COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme

In late-August 2024, COVERSE wrote to every single federal Member of Parliament, calling on them to listen to their Covid vaccine-injured constituents and to work towards solve their pressing health and financial needs.

Below is a copy of the text of our letter…

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Dear Members,

We are writing again as directors of COVERSE — the national charity for Australians who have been harmed by the COVID-19 vaccines. As we have communicated previously, the vast majority of us continue to suffer serious and life-changing medical conditions but receive no compensation or support from the Australian Government.

Earlier this year, the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committees, responsible for the inquiry into the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Amendment (Vaccine Indemnity) Bill 2023, recommended that the Government undertake a review of the COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme. To the best of our knowledge this has not occurred, and certainly not with any input from the community of Covid vaccine-injured Australians.

This week, important academic reporting on the Scheme, co-authored by the University of NSW and COVERSE, has demonstrated a gross misalignment between the Australian compensation scheme’s narrow design, and the significant breadth of serious adverse events documented in the peer-reviewed medical literature on these reactions. We have attached this crucial report to this letter, or it can be found on our website: coverse.org.au/2024/08/compensation-scheme-misalignment

This issue is becoming even more pressing now as the scheme is currently scheduled to cease on 30^th September 2024. Beyond the issue of the majority of our community being unjustly excluded from the Scheme’s narrow eligibility requirements, future injured will have no safety net at all. This makes no sense and will have serious political impacts.

We also draw your attention to information revealed in a recent Senate Estimates session where Services Australia disclosed that, as at 31^st March 2024, 91% of finalised applications have been unsuccessful (despite these applications having medical evidence supporting their claims of Covid vaccine-induced harms). There were also examples provided where claimants have been waiting in excess of 455 days for an outcome. These two facts alone demonstrate that the Scheme is punitive in nature and is not meeting the expectations of the Australian public who were promised “a simple and quick administrative process for compensation.”

The experiences of individuals who have suffered adverse effects following vaccination have been shared as part of testimony at various Senate inquiries. They universally highlight the urgent need for a transparent, responsive, and supportive compensation scheme system. It is crucial that the claims process is reviewed, reformed and streamlined effectively, to maintain public trust and provide adequate assistance to those severely impacted.

Based on the lived experience of our surveyed community, the following are areas of the current Scheme that need to be addressed urgently:

• Reflect the vast array of chronic and severe adverse reactions Australians have actually been diagnosed with, following their Covid vaccinations, instead of the very limited number of reaction types that are currently recognised. No vaccine-injured Australian should be denied compensation simply because their reaction does not appear on a bureaucratic list.
• Correct the eligibility criteria to reflect that a significant number of impacted patients were never admitted to hospital, yet have nevertheless experienced significant harm that continues to devastate their lives.
• Correct the eligibility criteria that require patients to be able to demonstrate current/future losses of at least $1,000. This is prejudicial to low-income people who rely solely on public health support yet still deserve compensation for the same amount of pain and suffering endured by themselves and their families.
• Remove or streamline the administrative overhead where a Tier 2 claim is subject to multiple reviews (internal medical, external legal, internal legal, …). If a claim is supported by a medical doctor this should be considered sufficient medical evidence for the claim to proceed.
• Review the pain and suffering component of the scheme, particularly Tier 1 where claims receive a flat 25% of the claim total. This clause is prejudicial to those with low-income or those with access to other forms of paid leave or compensation. Regardless of the magnitude of suffering, the maximum a person could receive for a Tier 1 claim is $3,999.99. This is grossly inequitable when Tier 2 has a maximum of $693,500.
• Review the generally onerous burden of administration being encountered by victims with significant cognitive dysfunction, fatigue and pain symptoms. Consider legible bank statements as appropriate proof of small to medium scale expenses where receipt-keeping is particularly arduous for patients managing a complex illness almost entirely by themselves.
• The scheme closure date should be extended beyond 30 September 2024, for as long as COVID-19 vaccines are available. It also makes no ethical sense for the scheme to be discontinued while there remains unresolved issues in regards to the current scheme for people who are already vaccine-injured.

We implore you to speak with your fellow MPs, including those across the floor of Parliament, to bring ethical action and reform to this issue immediately.

We particularly ask that you prioritise meeting and corresponding with vaccine-injured citizens in your constituency who have serious medical conditions resulting from their clear commitment to pandemic public health measures, but who have been abandoned now for the entire duration of the Scheme, with life-changing injuries.

Please make it a priority to meet with these people to assess how you can best help them obtain support and justice that is long overdue.

Vaccine reactions do not discriminate, and Australians from every background and political persuasion have been affected. We remind you that abandoning these people has already impacted civic trust in government and vaccine uptake rates for all vaccine products, not just the emergency-approved COVID-19 vaccines.

Let us work together to help these Australians as soon as possible — by reviewing and reforming the scheme as above, and extending the deadline.

Regards,