And what of the 3.3 million people who have died from covid-19 worldwide?
In Australia there have been 3 deaths due to blood clotting after taking a vaccine out of 2.654 million vaccinations.
Australia seeking urgent advice from Norway after Pfizer vaccine deaths
January 17,2021
The Australian government is urgently seeking advice from Norway after reports
up to 30 people have died after receiving the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine.
The vaccine was rolled out to the Scandinavian nation's elderly and people in nursing homes with serious underlying diseases.
Australia needs a vaccine injury compensation scheme
Upcoming COVID-19 vaccines make introduction of a VICS urgent
At present, >140 COVID-19 candidate vaccines are in development globally. Australian vaccine programs are safe, equitable and trustworthy, and the COVID-19 vaccine program will be required to go through the same robust process. The use of new ‘first-in-human’ vaccine technologies, and the limited sample size and duration of follow-up in phase III clinical trials, make it possible that rare, but serious, vaccine-related adverse effects will not be identified before widespread population use is needed in the context of the current devastating pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 appears to be uniquely able to generate immune pathologies post-infection in the lung and other organs, immune-related vascular disease and a still poorly characterised multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.10 Even a small increase in the risk post-vaccination of these phenomena on re-exposure to SARS-CoV-2 virus, especially antibody-mediated enhanced disease, will be important and difficult to exclude in trials.
Conclusion
There is a strong public health ethical justification to introduce a VICS in Australia, and it needs to be in place before widespread use of COVID-19 vaccines. If we are to encourage target groups to receive COVID-19 vaccines for the benefit of the entire community, much more so for young adults and the healthy who derive the least individual benefit, it follows that the Australian Government should compensate for any unforeseen rare but serious adverse event deemed to be due to a COVID-19 vaccine. Should options to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake include mandates or penalties,11 such as employment or travel restrictions if not vaccinated, a VICS would be even more essential.
A VICS would increase and build trust rather than undermine confidence in vaccine programs. Vaccines are designed to be very safe and effective, but this ‘insurance policy’, if communicated appropriately, should give confidence to underpin the success of a COVID-19 vaccine program. Legislation to introduce and allocate funds to support an Australian VICS for all vaccines in our otherwise world-leading National Immunisation Program is overdue, but it is now essential for COVID-19. Action at a national policy level is urgently required.
First published online 9 September 2020.