COVID-19 Vaccination Compensation Scheme
What’s it About
If you have suffered harm from a COVID-19 vaccination, or if you have lost a loved one from a COVID-19 vaccination, you may be entitled to compensation under the Federal Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Compensation Scheme. However, you must act quickly as you only have until 18 April 2024 to make a claim.
If you have suffered harm, compensation is payable for:
- Pain and suffering up to a maximum of $693,500.
- Past treatment costs.
- Future treatment costs.
- Medical report fees for the reports needed to prove your claim.
- Past loss of earnings up to a maximum of $5,211.30 per week (3 times the Average Weekly Earnings, which are set at $1,737.10).
- Future economic loss capped at a maximum of $5,211.30 per week.
- Attendant Care Service costs for domestic, nursing or other services that aim to alleviate the consequences of the harm caused. Either for:
- care for which a fee has been paid or is payable for such services; or
- gratuitous care for which no fee is payable for such services but only if the care is provided for more than 6 hours a week and for at least six months (up to a maximum of 40 hours a week which will be capped at $1,737.10, the average weekly earnings).
- Loss of capacity to provide domestic services to another person based on a rate of $43.43 per hour.
Where a COVID-19 vaccine has caused death, compensation will be paid to dependants of the deceased which may include a spouse/defacto, children and non-dependent children.
The benefits for dependants include:
- Funeral expenses up to $15,000.
- A Dependant Lump Sum Payment up to $644,640 for a spouse or de facto partner.
- A payment for each dependent child ranging from $61,280 for a 1 year old dependent child to $13,831 for a 16 year old dependent child or fulltime student up to 21 years of age.
Non-dependent children receive compensation up to $70,680.
Calculating and proving compensation entitlements can be complicated.
For example, when determining an entitlement to compensation for pain and suffering the decision maker will make an assessment of the evidence you provide to assess your condition and its impact on you as a proportion (or percentage) of the most extreme case and then you get a percentage of the maximum amount for pain and suffering.
Making a Claim
To make a claim, you will need to complete a prescribed form, supply medical evidence substantiating your condition and its impact on you as well as evidence of your wage loss, treatment costs, future needs, and any need for care.
The evidence required will include a statement from you as well as from your family and friends.
However, you do not need to prove anyone was negligent.
The Scheme is a no – fault Scheme.
Bringing a claim is very much like proving a claim for damages for injuries caused in an accident. And the compensation from the Scheme is remarkably like, if not better than, the compensation you would receive if you established someone had negligently caused your harm.
However, be warned that:
- You can only make one claim unless your condition significantly worsens.
- If you are entitled to compensation for more than $20,000, the Scheme will consult an independent medical expert and a lawyer before determining your entitlement.
- Not all harm is covered by the Scheme.
There is a list of prescribed conditions caused by particular vaccines that are compensated and a list of conditions that are not.
As time passes, additional conditions will be added to the list of compensable conditions.
The medical conditions that will not be compensated include contracting COVID-19; psychological and psychiatric conditions; or symptoms such as headache, fatigue, injection site reaction, muscle or joint pain, dizziness, diarrhoea, pain in extremity, fever, insomnia, nausea, vomiting, lethargy, chills, decreased appetite and malaise unless these form part of the prescribed compensator conditions.
The eligible conditions are:
- If you had AstraZeneca Vaxzeria, the following clinical conditions are accepted under the Scheme:
- Anaphylactic reaction;
- Capillary leak syndrome;
- Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST) without Thrombocytopenia;
- Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS);
- Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome;
- Thrombocytopenia, including immune Thrombocytopenia;
- Transverse Myelitis.
- If you’ve had Pfizer/Biontech Comirnaty, Moderna Spikevax or Novavax Nuvaxovid, the following clinical conditions are accepted under the Scheme:
- Anaphylactic reaction
- Erythema Multiforme (Major)
- Myocarditis
- Pericarditis
- The following clinically diagnosed injuries are also accepted under the Scheme, regardless of which TGA approved vaccine you’ve had:
- a shoulder injury you got when you received a COVID-19 vaccine;
- other moderate to significant physical injuries that caused permanent impairment, or the need for an extended period of medical treatment;
in both cases, the injuries must have been sustained during the physical act of being given the vaccine.
Further conditions will be added to the Scheme as the TGA verifies that a condition is a serious condition attributable to COVID-19 Vaccines and the additions will occur over the 2 years of the Scheme.
Assessment of Claims
Your claim will be assessed by the Scheme. You will receive an offer of compensation which you can accept or have reviewed. If you are not satisfied with the amount offered you can provide additional evidence for the review.
As the Scheme does not cover legal costs to collect your evidence or pursue compensation, we offer a no cost first consultation and a no win no fee arrangement. You can find out more about this arrangement at our no win no fee page or by reaching out to us.
You will need medical reports that comply with strict evidentiary requirements specified by the Scheme when you bring a claim and you will not need to pay anything for those reports when we assist you.
If you have been harmed by COVID-19 vaccines or know someone that has been harmed, you need to act quickly before the Scheme closes, mindful that it will take some time to prepare all the evidence needed to substantiate your claim and all entitlements.
And when you need help to make your claim and maximise your entitlements you can reach out to our NSW Law Society Accredited Specialists in Personal Injury who know what it takes to deliver the best outcome in COVID-19 Vaccination Compensation Claims, and are there to help you.
