Covid vaccine injured face tense wait over vital decision on whether their class action can proceed
The Covid Vaccine Class Action is now in the hands of Federal Court judge Anna Katzmann after an interlocutory hearing on Monday.
The vaccine injured and bereaved sat respectfully through a long day at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney, pinning their hopes on the justice system to recognise their plight.
Hunched with worry and some in pain, they shuffled through Hyde Park for lunch, where a Forest of the Fallen stood in silent support.
The injured, led by Queensland GP Dr Melissa McCann, are suing the Australian Government plus the prime decision makers responsible for promoting the covid gene-vaccines: Brendan Murphy who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Aged Care, former Therapeutic Goods Administration head John Skerritt, former Chief Medical Officer Paul Kelly and former federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.
These were the key people through which the vaccine was approved and supplied to the Australian public during the covid panic, marketing the products as safe, effective and necessary to take. Many were forced to take them by the duress of job mandates.
But the case now hangs by a thread.
The Government’s lawyers moved to have the case struck out before it is heard, in part on the grounds that the Government and its officials had no duty of care to the vaccine injured and therefore the injured have no reasonable prospect of winning the case.
“…the class of persons to whom the duty would be owed could not be confined within reasonable limits,” wrote Australian Government Solicitor Emma Gill in the Respondent’s Outline of Submissions in June.
“It would amount to an indeterminate duty to the whole Australian population.”
The submissions can be read here.
The Federal Government paid more than $8 billion in tax dollars for the covid vaccines and gave a liability waiver to the manufacturers - so the corporations who profited could not be sued if their products injured people.
That means injured people must turn to the government for accountability.
Then-health minister Greg Hunt promised that the Covid-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme (now closed) would compensate anyone with a “recognised adverse event” with “rapid access to compensation”.
But the scheme was restrictive in terms and only recognised 10 conditions out of hundreds, so most injured people couldn’t get any help.
Dr McCann gave a case update to supporters at a special Tuesday night session of Good Knights at Double Bay’s Golden Sheaf hotel.
“There seems to be some complete acceptance of what’s happened to these people and there doesn’t seem to be any actual argument about the science or the medicine that we’ve very carefully and thoroughly detailed in our claim,” said Dr McCann.
“But what they’re alleging firstly is that there was no duty of care of the Australian Government to the recipients of the vaccines. I thought it was absolutely outrageous when I first read that in the submission and I wondered if they would backtrack from that, but what we were treated to yesterday was several hours of re-hearing that argument in detail over and over again.”
Dr McCann said the matter now rests with Justice Katzmann.
“It will probably take some time for a decision to be made, and so I guess I’ll just ask for your prayers and support, and I hope that at the end of that there will be a positive outcome,” she said.
The vaccine injured and Dr McCann prepared an extremely detailed body of evidence with a 189-page statement of claim refering to seven schedules over 629 pages, which the Government’s submission complained was “ambiguous, prolix and difficult to understand”.
Dr McCann’s team also filed a shorter concise statement to overcome this hurdle.
Throughout the covid panic the vaccine injured have had to provide overwhelming evidence before they have been believed, so it is no wonder their statement of claim is long.
But none of this evidence is even on the table yet, which is hard to bear for the injured. After being vilified and ignored for years, they want to have their voices fairly heard.
It is possible the case could be struck out before it sees the light of day.
Some of the vaccine injured expressed disappointment after their barrister appeared not to have a response to some of the points put by the Government’s legal team on Monday.
Dr McCann stressed that the judge would now be looking at the written submissions, which are meticulous and thorough.
“What I do know is that what has been presented to the court is our written submissions and our claim, and they very comprehensively refute this idea that there is no duty of care and it carefully outlines how vulnerable the Australian population was, how reliant they were on the information given to them, and how it was the respondents who were the only people through which the vaccine were approved and supplied to the Australian public.”
The proposed second day of interlocutory hearings was not held on Tuesday and the matter will now be determined by Justice Katzmann reading the written submissions.
Almost 2000 injured and bereaved people have joined the class action and $559,000 has so far been donated for legal fees and costs in the non-profit case. If the action succeeds, the compensation will be shared by the injured and bereaved only, the Class Action says on its website.
The Covid Vaccine Class Action is suing the Government respondents for negligence and/or misfeasance for advancing the acceptance and use of the controversial vaccine products, which caused class members to suffer loss or damage.
For Dr McCann’s reflections on Monday’s hearing see her Substack below.
For more see Dr McCann’s previous case update below.
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Note: Letters From Australia has reached out via email to Australian Government Solicitor Emma Gill for comment and will amend this story fairly if comment is received. - UPDATE - Ms Gill has responded to say she has passed on the emailed request to the TGA. So I await a response from the TGA.
Updates/corrections: 4 December - fixed a bad twitter link that lead to a dead substack, added par above on right of reply, clarified Dr McCann’s response to Monday’s hearing, moved a picture down by 1 par. 5 December - added pars on liability waver, link to Greg Hunt’s promise of compensation, link to Dr McCann’s reflections. 6 December - added excellent two videos by Kevin “Frogmouth”, updated number of people in the class action. 7 December - added link to “Blood money”, Emma Gill’s response.