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Byron Shire
March 29, 2024

Australia gets a vaccine damages payment scheme

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Recently retired magistrate David Heilpern. Photo Jeff Dawson

When there is a vaccine there will be adverse reactions and it was this issue that former magistrate David Heilpern addressed in The Echo in January 2021 when he raised the importance of a ‘compensation scheme in Australia for adverse reactions to vaccinations.

‘There are 25 countries that have such schemes – mostly government funded with clawback from the pharmaceutical industry,’ he wrote.

‘None are perfect, but the key feature is that they do not require an applicant to prove fault or negligence by the manufacturer or the medical system – they just need to show that it is “more likely than not” that the injury or illness was caused by the vaccine.’

Finally, the call has been heard with The Guardian reporting on Tuesday (29 June) that ‘the National Immunisation Conference held by the Public Health Association of Australia, chief medical officer Prof Paul Kelly confirmed the introduction of a no-fault vaccine injury compensation scheme that would cover patients with a vaccine injury.

‘The health minister Greg Hunt also gave some details of the scheme in his press conference earlier, saying more details would be released in coming days.

‘A no-fault vaccine injury compensation scheme compensates individuals who have a vaccine injury following the correct administration of a registered vaccine. It is considered a vital component of a strong immunisation program by public health experts.’

Half of the world’s population are unable to access basic healthcare.

Australia catches up

Mr Heilpern told The Echo that ‘This is a great advance after months of procrastination by the Commonwealth.It would appear we are going to finally catch up with the United Kingdom, the EU, Canada, the USA and New Zealand.’

‘Rather than having divisive debates over “safe” and “dangerous” we can actually have rational decisions about compensating those who have suffered as a result of adverse reactions,.’

‘I have had my first AstraZeneca, and every time I get a headache I think I must have a blood clot. Seriously though, if I fell ill with this adverse reaction I would like to think I would be properly looked after. It’s one thing “taking one for the team”, it’s quite another being left to suffer alone uncompensated. We will need to watch the fine print, as always. Of course, it is all down to the national reach of The Echo – we change things,’ he said.


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9 COMMENTS

  1. Many thanks, David. An improvement on the snatch & grab presentation so far. Let’s
    hope the Government means what it says & isn’t doing a backward Chicken Little.

  2. What a surprise. Following the American lead with a government (ie. Taxpayer) funded compensation scheme removing all financial responsibility from the pharmaceutical companies.

  3. Well of course, lawyers and doctors see the necessity of an insurance wall to protect themselves when the inevitable occurs, and one or two expendable old codgers , who have been denied the safer alternative, perversely insist on croaking, against the express recommendations of, that opinion for hire, Brendon Murphy.
    Two or three deaths per hundred thousand, sounds perfectly acceptable until you do the maths with a population of at least forty million and find one of those is your life-long partner or parent.
    Questions might then be asked regarding the use of the more dangerous vaccine in the case of those at the end of their productive working life, so now the government acts to, no doubt amply compensate the dead for their untimely demise, while more to the point allaying the well-founded financial fears of those administering the fatal doses.

  4. 1. Anton what-about those who have died of disease?
    2. Ken get numbers fight about three reactions per million and then fatalities of about 0.03% of those affected. Population of Australia is around 27 million not 40 million. Better odds than dying of Covid.
    3. So sick of comments like big pharma( do you know who makes the vitamin tablets you are probably taking), fatal doses( what about the about 600000 who have died in the USA and how many millions in India.), dangerous vaccine (compared to what the Covid virus?

  5. Government (puppets on corporate strings) becoming increasingly desperate to force the vax…… twist of arms with delta today and there will be alphabet soup forever.

    No thanks….. I will take my chances catching the flu.

    • Very sad…where did it all go wrong and becoming bitter and twisted. It may be helpful to remember that without science and medicine most of us wouldn’t make it into old age. Good luck going around in circles in your closest echo chamber.

  6. Why not make the pharmaceuticals 100% Liable fo ruthie products??? it’s all crooked. you could make airbags without a product liability but vaccines? yes you can. Vaccines are the Leading cause of RARE events!!

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