Doctors seek indemnity

LOCAL doctors say the COVID-19 vaccination rollout is being delayed because they are yet to receive confirmation of no-fault indemnity when administering AstraZenica to people under 60.
The no-fault indemnity scheme would mean that in the very rare circumstances where patients believe they have been injured by a vaccine, they can access support or compensation if required without the need to take legal action against
their doctor.
Geelong doctor and Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACCP) deputy chair Dr Bernard Shiu said local GPs were yet to receive anything in writing and have no guarantees they would be covered by insurance in the rare event of an adverse reaction.
Dr Shiu said, as a result of this inaction, many local doctors were frustrated and angry and some were opting out of administering AstraZeneca to people under the age of 60 until they have the no-fault indemnity scheme in writing.
He said the RACGP was calling for the no-fault vaccine injury compensation scheme to be extended to all vaccines listed on the National Immunisation schedule, not just those approved for COVID-19.
Jan Juc GP Dr Patrick Crowe said the slowness of setting up this indemnity was “unbelievable”.
“There should be a no-fault insurance provided by the Federal Government for any unfortunate person who suffers and adverse effect from any of the COVID vaccines – Pfizer or AstraZeneca – that would certainly give doctors more confidence to recommend and give these vaccines to patients.”
Geelong’s Dr Daniel Garcia said the sooner doctors have official documentation from the federal government around indemnity for doctors administering COVID-19 vaccines, the sooner “we can get more jabs in arms”.
“The sooner we get jabs in arms the sooner we reach those phase-two and phase-three targets to forge our way out of this pandemic,” Dr Garcia said.
Corangamite MP Libby Coker said she was supporting local doctors’ call for federal government to provide GPs no-fault indemnity when administering AstraZeneca to under 60s which the Prime Minister promised six weeks ago.
She said the insurance system would certainly help fast-track the vaccine rollout and would “go some way to mitigating against the endless cycle of lockdowns that are needed until a high percentage of the population is vaccinated”.