Australia’s vaccine injury compensation budget expected to rocket 80-fold

Australia’s budget for vaccine injury compensation is expected to jump to $50 million (A$77 million) by July 2023, according to news.com.au. 

Under the current program run by Services Australia, an Australian injured by the COVID-19 injection must first prove the injury by presenting a signed letter from a doctor showing a causal link between the injection and the injury. There are not many injuries covered under the program; only a few, such as myocarditis, are recognized as vaccine injuries. Once an injury claim has been approved, the victim can claim medical costs, lost wages and other expenses, though compensation is capped at $13,000. 

For the 2021-2022 fiscal year, Services Australia budgeted $609,000 which, if every claimant received the maximum compensation, would max out at 47 people. 

But the new budget amount of $50 million could provide the maximum compensation to nearly 4,000 people. 

So far, only 59 out of 2,987 Australians who have claimed COVID-19 vaccine injuries have been compensated – approximately 2%. If that approval rate continues and the new compensation budget is distributed among 4,000 victims maximum, Australia could expect at least 200,000 injury complaints. 

The vaccine injury program is set to expire on April 17, 2024. 

Australia was one of the most fanatical countries when it came to the COVID-19 injections. The government created a Spread Freedom campaign, in which Australian citizens could buy back their freedom with each vaccine dose they had injected. 

In September 2021 Australian Premier Scott Morris promised citizens that if 70% of the country took both injections, he would allow up to five fully vaccinated people to gather in the home and up to 20 people to congregate outdoors. 

“Our roadmap outlines the freedoms that twice vaccinated people will enjoy once we reach 70 per cent double dose which means a meal with loved ones or a drink with friends is just around the corner,” teased Deputy Premier John Barilaro last year. 

Even before the injections came to market, Australia shocked the world with its heavy-handed response to COVID-19, which included beating anti-mandate protesters who violated some of the harshest restrictions outside China. Along with lockdown orders over a single COVID case, the Australian government developed a mobile app which required those in quarantine to provide proof of their location within 15 minutes. 

In August 2021 the New South Wales Council shot dead several rescue dogs so that volunteers from an animal shelter would not travel to pick them up.