Indemnity for Vaccines to Be Reviewed by Australian Senate Committee

A Swiss soldier fills up a syringe with Moderna Covid-19 vaccine in Delemont, northern Switzerland, on December 14, 2021. - Switzerland hit by a new wave of infections, like much of Europe, has called army in to speed up vaccination. (Photo by Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP) Photo by FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images

Indemnities for vaccine manufacturers will come under the microscope after Senator Ralph Babet successfully convinced the Liberal-National Coalition, the Greens, and the crossbench to review a change to current laws.

The Australian Senate’s Finance and Public Administration Legislation Committee will examine whether to end taxpayer-backed indemnities for vaccine producers—reporting back by March 18, 2024.

“This bill, if passed by those in this place, will ensure that no future indemnities are granted by the Commonwealth to the manufacturers of vaccines in relation to the use of said vaccines. This bill will limit financial and legal risk to the Commonwealth and aid in the restoration of trust in medicine,” Mr. Babet told the Senate (pdf) on Aug. 10.

Currently, the finance minister has the discretion to grant indemnity to vaccine manufacturers—what the Public Governance, Performance, and Accountability Amendment (Vaccine Indemnity) Bill 2023 seeks to do is to remove this power and, instead, transfer it to the Parliament.

Syringes with a COVID-19 vaccine in Biddeford, Maine, on April 26, 2021. Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images

Further, the bill will only impact future indemnities and not existing agreements like those with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Novavax, Moderna, and COVAX for COVID-19 vaccines.

The federal budget papers for 2023-24 also reveal the Commonwealth is indemnifying the future manufacture of smallpox and monkeypox vaccines—unqualifiable contingent liabilities—as well as pandemic and pre-pandemic influenza vaccines.

“I guess it’s easier to sign a blank cheque when you know it’s ‘only’ taxpayer money that is at stake. This is nothing short of a betrayal,” Senator Babet said.

“Indemnification has created an incentive for risk-taking in the pharmaceutical industry, which is not aligned with the fundamental principles of medicine,” he added.

“These vaccines have unfortunately resulted in over 139,000 adverse event reports, and some people have died,” Mr. Babet said.

“Based on the recent Western Australian data from 2021, the COVID-19 vaccines had an adverse event reporting rate that is 23 times greater per dose than non-COVID-19 vaccines. There were 264 adverse events per 100,000 doses when compared to just 11 for non-COVID-19 vaccines.”

Labor’s Response

In response, the Labor Party did not back the bill, instead supporting the existing COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme.

“The ability to indemnify vaccine manufacturers in an emergency and/or pandemic situation is critical to secure timely access to vaccines for Australia,” said Senator Murray Watt, also the minister for emergency management.

“This was the case during COVID-19, where our ability to indemnify COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers enabled timely access to vaccines. If the Commonwealth had not been able to indemnify COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers, there would have been significant delays or refusal from the manufacturers to supply their vaccine in Australia,” he told the Senate.

“If this bill were to pass, this change would hinder Australia’s ability to secure timely supply to vaccines during worldwide pandemics.”

Removing Power from the Minister

In response, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said the issue of granting indemnity should be in the hands of Parliament and not a single minister.

“All this bill does is remove one man’s or one woman’s ability to indemnify and affect the whole country through the stroke of a pen,” he told the Senate.

“If a future Australian government wants to provide an indemnity to a large pharmaceutical company—or, sometimes ... even a small one like Moderna, one without any record at all—it can bring legislation to this Parliament and have the people’s representatives debate and inquire into whether such an indemnity should be given.”

Senator Canavan noted that indemnity should still be granted after going through proper processes.

The bill passed 39 votes to 16, with the Greens and independent Senators Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock supporting it.

The federal crossbench’s support likely stems from its focus on increasing transparency in government, demonstrated by its support of the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Commission.