A letter to federal politicians

In late January / early February 2023, COVERSE wrote individually to every single federal Senator and Member of Parliament, detailing the situation being faced by those of us suffering from COVID-19 vaccine injuries, and asking for them to take action to help us.

Below is a copy of the text of our letter…

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RE: COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Situation

Dear Senator / MP,

We are seeking long-overdue bipartisan support to address the plight of Australians adversely affected by their COVID-19 vaccinations. To date, despite our commitment to public health measures, we have not received the most basic recognition by the Australian Parliament that we exist as a suffering group.

Our science-led non-profit organisation was founded by a group of Australian professionals who have had medically recognised and life-changing adverse events following their COVID-19 vaccinations. This, our first letter to all elected Australian officials, announces our intention to work together on reforms that are urgent to address our needs.

Many Australians are still unaware that if they have a serious adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine there is almost no infrastructure to help them. Currently, just 3% of Australians who have registered their adverse reactions with the Australian Government have been compensated, and a far larger number remain ineligible to apply for compensation. Worse, our surveys show 95% of our members have had no access to any financial assistance and 65% were unable to work in any capacity at the peak of their symptom severity.

Despite the narrative that adverse reactions are ‘short lived’ and affect predominantly young males or senior citizens with comorbidities, 67% of our members are women, the average age is 50 and the average time to see any improvement in adverse event symptoms is 8 months. The majority of our members have not fully recovered, after up to 2 years of suffering.

COVERSE has actively engaged with respected international medical researchers, universities and patient organisations tackling and treating COVID-19 vaccine reactions. As examples of international initiatives: in Germany, public vaccine injury research and treatment clinics have been established; Thailand compensates their injured within a matter of days, and; a number of US institutions are conducting research and trialling treatment protocols. However, no such initiatives are available locally for Australians. We are behind the rest of the world in every single area that matters.

We ask for your proactive attention and support in the following areas, where currently there is none:

• Acknowledgement
  • Acknowledge that for some Australians, the COVID-19 vaccines did considerable harm, and commit to taking all steps necessary to support those affected.
• Research, Doctor Education and Treatment
  • Develop comprehensive medical guidelines for Australian GPs and specialists for treating vaccine injury symptoms, co-created with vaccine-injured representatives to ensure relevancy and breadth.
  • Task at least one pharmacovigilance organisation with proactively monitoring the ongoing outcomes of vaccine-injured Australians.
  • Fund Government research as to why COVID-19 vaccine injury occurs in certain individuals.
  • Fund Government research on treatment options to resolve severe debilitating injuries that need not be permanent.
• Equity and Financial Issues
  • Redesign the Government’s compensation scheme to:
    • Reflect the vast array of chronic and severe adverse events instead of the seven (7) that are currently recognised.
    • Correct the eligibility criteria to reflect that a significant number of impacted patients were never admitted to hospital.
    • Correct the eligibility criteria so that vaccine-injured children and/or their parents are able to receive appropriate compensation.
    • 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 and unemployed 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.
  • Acknowledge the plight of Australians developing severe chronic conditions as their symptoms remain untreated for extended periods of time.
  • Acknowledge that treatment is experimental and high cost which skews recovery towards only those with the financial resources to fund upfront costs.
  • Establish tailored Government financial assistance that is ongoing. As COVID-19 vaccine injuries are an unprecedented phenomenon many Government programs do not recognise the long duration of disability such injuries have created, which may be permanent in individual cases.

All of these measures will go towards repairing the significant damage done to public vaccination sentiments in Australia and internationally.

Our greatest hope is that this letter can serve as a reminder to you that for some Australians, the COVID-19 vaccinations did incredible harm. The subsequent treatment we have received from the media, doctors, and government officials in the face of extremely debilitating, life-changing injuries has been as traumatising as the injury itself. We ask that you bear this in mind — and include us, the covid vaccine injured — when you address any debate regarding COVID vaccine policies and COVID vaccine injury.

Should you wish to further discuss the patient experience or any of the information contained in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us at contact@coverse.org.au.

We have also attached a copy of our published submission to the Federal Government’s Inquiry into Long Covid and Repeated Covid Infections, which is scientifically referenced and provides an in-depth analysis of the vaccine injury situation in Australia. We urge you to read it.

We look forward to hearing from you with details on what action you have taken or are planning to take to address these aforementioned critical issues.

Yours sincerely,