The Australian government could be paying up to A$77 million (US$49.35 million) in vaccine injury claims over the next year, according to recently released budget estimates.
In the current 2021-22 financial year, the government has paid out just $937,000 after several hundred applications were accepted under Australia’s COVID-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme, according to the Portfolio Budget Statement for the Department of Social Services (not the Health Department).
The final number of applications is far smaller than the original 10,000 who registered their interest in November 2021.
Yet the Department of Social Services estimates, in a table under “Third-party payments from and on behalf of other entities,” that total pay-out numbers could jump 80-fold to $76.9 million over the 2022-23 financial year….