Australia needs a no-fault compensation scheme for COVID-19 vaccines, say doctors and lawyers

Twenty-five countries have a no-fault compensation scheme for vaccine victims – Australia is not one of them.

Australians killed or suffering severe side effects from COVID-19 vaccines including deadly blood clots will receive no compensation unlike patients in 25 other countries.

However, people who contract COVID-19 in quarantine may be eligible for compensation, News Corp Australia can reveal.

Law firms and doctors are calling for a no-fault compensation scheme to be set up to help victims and their families and provide confidence in the troubled vaccine rollout.

Twenty-five countries including New Zealand, the US, UK, Canada, Iceland and Slovenia have no-fault compensation schemes for serious adverse events stemming from vaccinations.

University of Sydney Paediatrician Associate Professor Nicholas Wood and other vaccine experts told the Australian Journal of General Practice such a scheme was vital in countries like Australia that mandated childhood vaccination.

“People acting to benefit themselves, but also the community, should be compensated by the same community if harm has resulted,” he and other authors wrote in an article for the journal.

“For immunisation programs, the community owes a debt of gratitude to an individual who experiences serious injury due to a vaccine offered and accepted in good faith,” the article said.

Twenty-five countries have a no-fault compensation scheme for vaccines but Australia does not. Picture: istock

Shine Lawyer’s national practice leader Lisa Flynn told News Corp Australia at present someone injured by a COVID-19 vaccine would only get compensation if they could prove the doctor administering the vaccine had acted negligently or if there was any evidence that the vaccine hadn’t gone through proper testing.

If someone had an adverse reaction that was a known risk there would be no compensation, Ms Flynn said.

“Those people do need compensation and that’s what we’re saying the government should really get in line with the other countries that have introduced this compensation scheme, so that even if there is no negligence, no fault, family members, and those affected by adverse events to vaccines can be compensated,” she said.

However, Ms Flynn said people who contracted COVID-19 in hotel quarantine may have a case for compensation.

Several individuals and families have recently contracted COVID-19 while in quarantine in Perth and Sydney.

“I do think that they would have, in certain circumstances, the right to bring a claim against the government, if the government had some control over the hotel and the security measures,” Ms Flynn said.

The person would have to prove they caught the virus in quarantine and that proper procedures weren’t in place to stop the virus spread in the hotel, she said.

There might also be a case against the security companies contracted or the hotel itself and if its COVID-19 procedures were inadequate, she said.

Shine Lawyers is already running a class action for people affected by the COVID-19 outbreak on the Ruby Princess cruise ship last year.

It is also acting for individuals who lost relatives and staff members infected with the virus at Newmarch House aged care village and other aged care providers, she said.