Will making manufacturers liable for their products lift standards?

During the pandemic, it is my belief that powerful international organisations and corporations put the health and welfare of Australians in danger.

Secret deals were done with pharmaceutical companies which gave them billions of dollars in profit while putting all the risk associated with vaccines onto taxpayers by indemnifying the manufacturer.

The Oxford Dictionary defines indemnity as: ‘Protection against damage or loss, especially in the form of a promise to pay for any damage or loss that happens.’

The trouble with indemnifying vaccine makers is that it can potentially create an incentive for risk-taking in the pharmaceutical industry.

Where complete indemnity exists, companies face few consequences. They may be tempted to put shareholders and profits ahead of safety.

The Covid vaccines, which were rolled out with vaccine makers protected from liability by an indemnity clause, have resulted in more than 139,000 reports to the Therapeutic Goods Administration of adverse events, and 998 reports of people dying after vaccination where it was suspected the vaccine may have been a contributing cause to death. Of these deaths, 243 were people of working age who were at very low risk of severe Covid, let alone dying. Five more were aged between 12 and 17 years old. Four more were little children aged between 5 and 11 years, and there were 91 deaths where no age was given. How is that possible? The name, age, and date of birth of every person who is vaccinated in Australia are meant to be recorded in the Australian Immunisation Register. It looks like woefully insufficient research has been done into these suspected vaccine deaths.

Based on the Western Australian data from 2021, the Covid vaccines had an adverse event reporting rate that is 23 times greater per dose than non-Covid vaccines.

There were 264 adverse events per 100,000 doses when compared to just 11 for non-Covid vaccines. This is unacceptable, and big pharmaceutical companies appear to be unaccountable, and frankly, untouchable.

The bad news is that Australia granted indemnity to a pharmaceutical company that set a world record of the worst kind. In 2009, Pfizer was forced to pay 2.3 billion US dollars for the illegal promotion of a drug, making false and misleading claims about drug safety, and paying kickbacks to doctors. That included the largest ever US criminal fine at 1.2 billion US dollars.

Australia also granted indemnity to Moderna, a company that had been trading for 10 years, but until the Covid vaccine, had never received a single product approval.

But that’s not the end of the story.

The Federal Budget papers for 2023-24 contain multiple ‘unquantifiable contingent liabilities’ relating to vaccines which stem from the indemnity that has been granted for the Advance Purchasing Agreements for Covid vaccines.

And the potential liability doesn’t end there, according to the 2023-2024 budget papers, indemnity has also been granted in advance to a manufacturer of a smallpox/monkeypox vaccine and a manufacturer of pandemic and pre-pandemic influenza vaccines.

Quite simply, all of this is wrong. That’s why I’ve introduced a bill that will make it impossible for vaccine makers to escape the consequences of their actions. It’s called the Public Governance, Performance, and Accountability (Vaccine Indemnity) Bill 2023. It will ensure that no future indemnities are granted by the Commonwealth to the manufacturers of vaccines in relation to their use.

It will not only protect taxpayers’ money, but it will also help to restore trust in medicine. Why? Because if a vaccine sponsor knows they are liable for any harm caused by their product they will take greater care both in its manufacture and in monitoring it. They will ensure that it is promptly withdrawn from the market if there is any evidence that it is causing injury or death.

Accountability is a cornerstone of our society. Businesses that produce goods and provide services are expected to be accountable for any adverse or unintended consequences that their product or service creates. When a product is faulty, it is replaced. When a service is inferior, a refund is provided.

As a good global citizen, it is worth noting that in global pandemics, pharmaceutical companies can coerce rich nations to meet their indemnification demands and that this results in delayed access to vaccines for lower-income nations. So indemnification of vaccine manufacturers increases global vaccine inequity.

While the Commonwealth Government has previously provided indemnities for vaccine manufacturers this only appears to have occurred in limited circumstances.
But to the extent that the pharmaceutical industry has managed to evade accountability for vaccines, it is because the federal government surrendered the Australian people’s right to recourse.

This bill honours existing commercial contracts because we can’t undo the past. What we can do is ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated. We must draw a line in the sand and regain our sovereignty over vaccine contracts.

The good news is that the Selection of Bills committee referred the bill to the committee for inquiry and invited submissions from the public by 29 September.

I urge you to make a submission. The terms of reference for the inquiry are the provisions of the bill. You can cover some or all of the provisions.

The Committee’s powers allow it to report to Parliament with recommendations for changes to legislation, regulation, and government policy. It welcomes individual stories that may identify issues and recommendations.

After the inquiry, a report will be delivered on March 18 next year.

Given that the government has so far refused to keep the promise it made before the election to hold a Royal Commission into the management of the pandemic, making a submission to this inquiry is one of the best ways to have your say on how to make vaccine manufacturers accountable for their products.

Please support this bill and urge your local member to support it. Together we can restore our nation’s trust in medicine and make vaccines safe again.