The end of indemnity for Big Pharma

United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet has introduced a bill to the Senate which aims to mark the end of the coercive practices of big pharmaceutical corporations in Australia.

Senator Babet said his bill, titled the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Amendment (Vaccine Indemnity) Bill 2023, will “ensure no future indemnities are granted by the Commonwealth in relation to the use of vaccines. This bill will limit financial and legal risk to the Commonwealth and aid in the restoration of trust in medicine.”

“The Federal Budget papers for 2023-24 contain multiple, ‘unquantifiable contingent liabilities’ relating to vaccines. The unquantifiable liability stems from the fact that indemnity has been granted for Covid-19 vaccines,” Senator Babet said.

“Unquantifiable put simply means the cost of these clauses is open ended. Taxpayers are on the hook and big pharma is on the rod reeling them in.

“The potential liability doesn’t end with Covid-19 vaccines. According to the 2023-24 budget, indemnity has also been granted in advance to a manufacturer of a smallpox/monkeypox vaccine and a particular manufacturer of Covid-19 pandemic and pre-pandemic influenza vaccines.

“Granting indemnity means our government has handed over a blank cheque to big pharma. If anything goes wrong, taxpayers foot the bill.

“This incentivises risk taking, meaning they can cut corners on safety and wipe their hands of all responsibility when something goes wrong.

“The Covid-19 vaccines have had an alarming adverse event reporting rate 23 times greater per dose than non-Covid-19 vaccines. They have resulted in over 139,000 adverse event reports and some people have died. The true scale of vaccine related injuries and deaths is equally unquantifiable.”

CLICK HERE to view the bill.

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