GPs need indemnity against COVID vaccine injury
The Federal Government must resolve the issue of vaccine indemnity for GPs administering COVID-19 vaccinations, Dr Khorshid said.
Dr Khorshid told the Senate COVID-19 inquiry that it was “likely” general practitioners who are administering COVID-19 vaccines could be sued by anyone injured in the process of getting the vaccine.
“In other countries, the practitioners that are participating are formally indemnified by the government. That’s not the case here in Australia,” he told the hearing.
“That gap is covered in their individual interactions with patients, and there’s no risk to patients here, but there is a risk to our indemnity industry.”
Dr Khorshid also called on the Federal Government to provide “more appropriate” quarantine facilities for returning Australians.
“We believe Australia needs better access, particularly during this pandemic, to purpose-designed quarantine facilities,” Dr Khorshid said.
“At the end of the day, it’s about achieving the appropriate separation to avoid contamination... in particular, avoiding transmission of any infectious disease to the staff providing care.”
Quarantine facilities could be moved to the outskirts of major cities to avoid spreading the virus and consequent lockdowns.
“It’s been suggested, and we would agree, that the outskirts of major cities may be places where you could build an appropriate facility that would have access to health care but not within our CBD environment,” he said.
“(Not in) our high rise building type environment where it’s much more difficult to ensure the separation between people.”
