‘Torture’: Sydney mum’s painful vaccine injury wait drags on
A Sydney mother is bedridden and in agony from what specialists say is a Covid-19 vaccine injury. Her horror story keeps getting worse.
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Sandra Byron will have to deal with her crippling affliction for the rest of her life.
She spends her days mainly chairbound or bedridden, suffering chronic pain, with her limbs hypersensitive and swollen like balloons.
She carries 20kg of fluid from lymphoedema, a brain injury and severe gastrointestinal injuries.
What made her this way? According to three separate specialists, it was the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine she was given in May 2021.
The agony felt by the previously “perfectly healthy” 59-year-old Sydneysider is being compounded by an excruciating wait for compensation.
It has been almost two years of hell for Ms Byron and her family, who have spent over a year battling for compensation through the Government’s Covid-19 Vaccine Injury Compensation Scheme.
A senior federal government minister has appealed to his colleagues regarding concerns around the severely vaccine-injured Sydney mother’s claim for compensation as her family’s frustration boils over.
In February, Education Minister Jason Clare wrote to Government Services Minister Bill Shorten and Health Minister Mark Butler regarding the case of Sandra Byron, a mother severely injured by her AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in May 2021.
The scheme, administered through Services Australia, sells itself as being a “simple, streamlined process to compensate eligible people, without the need for complex legal proceedings”.
Ms Byron, who has been rejected by the scheme and is waiting on the outcome of an appeal, says it’s anything but.
In her initial claim deemed “not payable” in August, three separate specialists linked her capillary leak syndrome, and Guillain-Barre syndrome, to her vaccination.
Other doctors, including those who treated her less than an hour after she was vaccinated, even submitted her case to the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).
Ms Byron, once a happy, healthy mother and previously the leading photography curator at the Art Gallery of NSW, now waits for the outcome of her appeal, which was lodged with the help of a lawyer on November 21.
Ms Byron and her husband, Ashley Russell, have spent recent weeks lobbying the department, Mr Shorten and Mr Butler directly.
But in early February, their cause was picked up by Mr Clare, who wrote to Mr Shorten inquiring about the progress of their claim.
A month later, a response to Mr Clare from Mr Shorten offered little.
“On February 27, 2022, an officer from Services Australia contacted Ms Byron to discuss her concerns,” Mr Shorten wrote.
“The officer confirmed that Ms Byron’s claim remains under review by the medical panel and that the time frames for compensation of the review are not available to the agency.”
The Department of Health and Aged Care is responsible for the policy supporting the scheme, while Services Australia is tasked with administrating it, including the processing and assessing of claims.
Mr Shorten informed Ms Byron and Mr Russell they had been allocated a Services Australia policy officer to their case and suggested contacting him.
Their local member, Paul Fletcher, also wrote to numerous ministers of both the Morrison and Albanese governments during the pair’s ordeal, including Mr Shorten on four separate occasions and former Coalition Ministers Linda Reynolds and Mark Hunt – also to little avail.
Ms Byron and Mr Russell heeded Mr Shorten’s advice and contacted their assigned officer.
“Sandra’s condition continues to worsen and is deteriorating,” Mr Russell told the officer.
He explained on April 3 that he feared Ms Byron would take her life due to her suffering, a sentiment which was also expressed in her claim by her treating specialists.
“I urge you to end this torture today that you … are inflicting on us and get Sandra’s claim approved so we can begin to afford the treatment she needs desperately, and that was pointed out to the scheme in February 2022 by her doctors when we submitted her claim,” he said.
“I urge you to act today to settle this claim.”
Services Australia was unable to comment on the specifics of Ms Byron’s case but claimed to be “working closely” with her representatives to provide her with updates on her appeal.
“The assessment process can be complex, and claims may also be reviewed independently by medical and other appropriately qualified experts,” a spokesperson said.
“In many cases, Services Australia is required to seek additional information from applicants in order to further progress consideration of their application.
“While we can’t discuss individual cases, we’re working closely with Ms Byron’s representatives to provide updates on her case.”
Ms Byron has said after countless emails and calls from her lawyer, and her husband, nothing meaningful has come from inquiries to Service Australia.
In the meantime, she lives in “horrible” and “overwhelming” pain that her treating physician has rated at “100 per cent”.
“Ultimately, if all of this is just the preamble to having to actually take legal action against them, they’re actually torturing me, they’re denying me the essential medical treatment I need,” she told news.com.au, her discomfort audible over the phone as she struggled through sentences.
“They don’t have any time frames where they can even tell you when something might get decided one way or the other.
“There isn’t any legitimate doubt about my case.”
Ms Byron said, pointing out that in her review to the scheme, 11 doctors in total, including six specialists have now confirmed the link from the vaccine to her claimable conditions under the scheme’s guidelines and policy.
She said due to the process and Mr Russell needing to take the better part of a year off work, the family can no longer afford treatments and struggle to afford specialist appointments.
“I wouldn’t wish these conditions on anybody, but having them should be the worst of it,” she said.
“We cannot really get treatment because we can’t afford treatment. I mean, we had to cancel an appointment with a neurologist because we can’t afford the gap.”
Ms Byron and Mr Russell have likened their treatment to that of the victims of the Robodebt Scheme, which chased payment for more than half a million inaccurate and ultimately unlawful, Centrelink debts.
“I want to be very clear – I’m not anti-vax – I’m just incredibly unlucky and have just been relentlessly tortured,” Ms Byron said.
“The very scheme that’s meant to help you is causing additional harm – they just allow themselves to be unaccountable.”
As of April 12 this year, the Scheme has received 3501 applications and has paid 137 claims totalling over $7.3 million.
Remaining in progress are 2263 claims while 405 have been withdrawn and 696 have been deemed not payable.
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