Russell Broadbent here, your Member for Monash.
Hot on the heels of my call yesterday urging the vax injured to contact mainstream media outlets with their stories, Olivia called my office to share her story.
Olivia is ineligible for the covid compensation scheme and asked me to share her story in the hope that other vax-injured people will also stand up and speak out to the media.
In early 2022, like every other Victorian government public servant, Olivia was mandated to take the COVID-19 booster vaccine in order to keep the job she loved. She said she’d never been sick in her life, but within five 5 minutes of getting jabbed Olivia suffered a severe adverse reaction that has left her chronically ill.
Two and half years down the track, she still experiences debilitating symptoms daily, and was hospitalised just two weeks ago due to ongoing complications from her condition.
She’s had to fight for months to get on WorkCover, as her employer denied her injury was due to the vaccine – battling against this bureaucratic bungling whilst on death’s door.
Whilst WorkCover has since agreed to pay her a measly sum that barely covers her expenses, it can be taken away at any time. She’s barely making ends meet and relies on her partner for income and day to day care and support.
And even though Olivia has been declared permanently incapacitated by her three doctors, she’s not eligible for the Vaccine Injury Claims Scheme, despite the life-altering effects of the mandated vaccination!
Adding to her distress, Olivia has been repeatedly gaslit by other doctors and hospital staff, who’ve have downplayed or outright denied the severity of her symptoms – one labelling her a hypochondriac on the hospital discharge sheet.
I’ve been listening to stories like Olivia’s for three years and enough is enough.
This is not the country I know and I’m at a complete loss as to why the government remains blind and deaf to their pleas for help.
That’s justice as I see it.
