Covid Class Action- Update

The interlocutory hearing in Sydney is coming up- December 2nd and 3rd

It will be a little over 2 months after the Government Compensation scheme closed for applications (30th September) that the Covid Vaccine Class Action will have the first hearing for the interlocutory applications, at Sydney Federal Court 2nd and 3rd December - more details on this application and the upcoming hearing are below.

The scheme was widely criticised as completely unfit for purpose, with injured and bereaved persons struggling due to the narrow criteria and numerous obstacles to compensation; some of these issues are detailed in the Government Covid Inquiry , detailed here in the published literature as well as media reports, for example here, here, here and here. Payments of over 32 million were made under the scheme, giving some indication of the magnitude of harm from the vaccines despite the small cohort of injured who were able to successfully make a claim.

I know personally of many injured and bereaved who have been declined for compensation under the scheme despite fulfilling the narrow criteria and providing extensive supportive medical documentation and reports from specialists. I know of even more who were not even able to begin a application due to not meeting the narrow eligibility criteria.

As noted by Carey et al, “This literature demonstrates that by making administrative systems burdensome, particular groups struggle to access them”. One only has to look at the claim scheme and the experiences of those struggling to access it to ponder if this burden was intentional in order to avoid the scheme being accessed more broadly. It certainly looks a little better for Government to wind up a scheme stating that 32 million in compensation was paid- if 10 times as many people were able to access the scheme this could have been 320 million, or if 100 times as many were able to access it could have been 3.2 billion. Which would perhaps make it a little more difficult to convince the public of the ‘rareness’ of the serious adverse events and the unequivocal safety and efficacy of the Covid vaccines.

Just how many Australians suffered severe adverse events is anyone’s guess. The TGA’s DAEN database discloses that more than 137 000 adverse events and 1037 deaths have been reported to this voluntary passive reporting system.

For those interested in reviewing the reports of events, OpenDAEN has been created by a meticulous team of volunteers and is a database that is much easier to search.

So the Covid Vaccine Class action was filed in April of 2023. The action is against Greg Hunt, Brendan Murphy, John Skerritt and Paul Kelly and alleges negligence and misfeasance in the actions to approve, the ongoing approvals and in making various public statements about the Covid 19 vaccines.

This 27 minute video summarises some of the allegations made in the comprehensive statement of claim

In response to our action, the respondents on 17th June 2024 filed an application to have the matter struck out/ summary dismissal; and it is this application that will be heard on December 2nd and 3rd in Sydney.

The submissions for this application, and the reply submissions from our team of barristers can be found here

What I found interesting about the argument for dismissal of the class action is that the argument is not that the carefully detailed scientific particulars and factual allegations are false, but rather that these leaders essentially did not owe the group members a duty of care.

Seemingly because the duty would be owed to the entire Australian population.

I think the Australian population might take issue with such a claim, since the Australian Government and the respondents proclaimed themselves to be the sole source of reliable information on the vaccines, and were the sole authority through which approval was granted and the vaccines supplied.

I think it also inexplicable to argue this given that Minister Hunt announced the vaccine compensation scheme in August 2021, (just prior to the first mandatory vaccination policies commencing in September of 2021) and Minister Hunt stated that-

“Side effects, or adverse events, from COVID-19 vaccinations can occur, but most are mild and last no longer than a couple of days. Serious and life-threatening side effects are very rare, but it is important that we provide a safety net to support those affected,” Minister Hunt said.

“It also ensure that health professionals administering vaccines will be able to continue with their crucial role in the vaccine roll out with assurance that the claims scheme will offer them protection.”

I wonder what percentage of the Australian population accepted vaccination on the basis that our health leaders proclaimed serious side effects to be very rare, and that a compensation scheme would provide support to anyone affected by these effects. I wonder how many health professionals provided vaccinations confident that any patients suffering side effects would receive this promised compensation. This all sounds like a duty of care to the Australian population to me.

The respondents also argue that it will be impossible to demonstrate that the respondents were aware that harm was probable and they proceeded anyway.

When in fact, myself and many others, including those who suffered adverse events, contacted the respondents early in vaccination role out to notify of serious concerns of harm to the public, including making reports of actual harm experienced, and to request a suspension and review of the safety issues.

The submissions in response from our legal team can also be accessed here

If nothing else, the upcoming hearing will be an opportunity to bring further attention to the plight of the many injured and bereaved.

I hope and pray it will be bring more than that, and that our action will survive this application, move to the next stages requiring filing of defence and discovery process and ultimately that the injured and bereaved will receive the compensation and recognition as promised by the Government.

The matter is being funded by myself and generous public donations on a no profit basis, please share and contribute if you can - your support is the only reason we have made it to this important milestone.

Good always wins, in the end.

Mel