The Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (“TGA”) did not fulfil their duty to properly regulate the covid injections, resulting in harm and damage to Australians, argues a Class Action lawsuit filed on Wednesday in the Federal Court of Australia.
The action is seeking compensation on behalf of covid vaccine-injured Australians for damages and losses sustained.
Over 500 injured covid vaccine-injured Australians, many of whom have suffered life-altering adverse events, have now expressed interest in the action, as have family members of Australians who died after receiving the vaccine.
The Class Action seeks to hold the TGA to account for alleged, “negligence, breach of statutory duty and misfeasance in public office” in its failure to properly approve and monitor the covid vaccines, resulting in harms to Australians.
Class Action respondents include, but are not limited to, the Australian Government, the Department of Health and Aged Care Secretary Dr Brendan Murphy, and the Former Deputy Secretary of Health Products Regulation Group Adjunct Professor John Skerritt.
The action was filed by Brisbane law firm NR Barbi Solicitor on behalf of Lead Applicants Gareth O’Gradie, Antonio Derose, and Anthony Rose. The Lead Applicants are representing the covid vaccine-injured across all Australian jurisdictions who have suffered loss and damage as a result of being injected with one or more of the covid vaccines.
Dr Melissa McCann, GP at the Whitsunday Family Practice, instigated the action and has initiated a crowdfunding campaign to assist in funding legal expenses. She says that a Class Action is needed because the compensation scheme has failed vaccine-injured Australians.
A recent review of the compensation scheme in The Australian revealed that only 126 out of 3,395 claims made to the scheme so far have been approved. 2,357 claims are in progress, 562 have been rejected, and 350 have been withdrawn.
Several of the vaccine-injured registered in this action have shared their stories with Instagram archive project, Jab Injuries Australia (JIA). 37-year-old Sydney mum Mel shared her story on the page earlier this year. After three Pfizer shots, Mel told JIA, “I’m now disabled and have severe debilitating pain. I regret taking these vaccines every day of my life.”
Should the action be successful, financial compensation will assist in covering some of Mel’s treatment costs – she has spent tens of thousands of dollars on treatments so far. But more than that, Mel wants justice.
A parent who attended the courthouse on Monday is Raelene, mother of Caitlin Gotze. 23-year-old Caitlin died shortly after her second Pfizer vaccination, which she got because it was mandated for her job, in 2021. Caitlin was bedridden for four days after the second shot, developing severe shortness of breath and malaise in the following weeks. Six weeks later, Caitlin went to the emergency department and was given a ventilator and steroids. Three days after this, she was found dead in her car at the Toowoomba horse racing stables where she worked.
Six months after Caitlin’s death, the Queensland Coroner officiated the cause of death as asthma. However, Caitlin never had asthma. Raelene is taking steps to have the investigation into Caitlin’s death reopened. “Where there is risk there must be choice. Cailtin had no choice, she had no informed consent,” says Raelene. “I want to see accountability. I want the government to take responsibility for the immeasurable harm they’ve caused.”
“Australians who have experienced a serious adverse event following covid-19 vaccination are invited to step forward and register for this Class Action,” says instructing solicitor Natalie Strijland of NR Barbi Solicitor.
Eligible Group Members include those who have suffered a serious adverse event either partly or wholly by reason of the covid injection. Serious adverse events include:
- death;
- a life-threatening event;
- an event which requires in-patient hospitalisation;
- an event which resulted in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, including: permanent impairment of a body function or permanent damage to a body structure;
- an event which necessitated medical or surgical intervention to prevent permanent impairment of a body function or permanent damage to a body structure;
- an event causing a congenital anomaly, birth defect or stillbirth;
- a medically important event;
- an event that made one or more of the outcomes above more likely; or
- was an event that required intervention to prevent one or more of the above outcomes, including events that required intensive treatment in an emergency department or at home but did not result in hospitalisation.
Read more about the Covid Vaccine Class Action HERE. Eligible Group Members are invited to register details HERE.
Featured image: Members of the Covid vaccine-injured community and advocates meet on the steps of the Federal Court, Sydney, NSW taken from ‘Class Action lawsuit cites regulatory failures over covid vaccines’ by Rebekah Barnett
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