Four Australian senators have lodged an order for the release of contracts between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies for the production of COVID-19 vaccines.
The senators will lodge the motion on Nov. 22, 2022, for the current Labor health minister to release agreements with Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Novavax, including details on vaccine efficacy, side effects, and supply of the jab.
Further, the motion will ask for documents outlining any “indemnity, guarantee, waiver, or release of liability” provided by the Australian government to pharmaceutical companies.
Antic was joined by Queensland Senators Matthew Canavan (of the Nationals), Gerard Rennick (also of the Liberal Party), and Victoria’s Ralph Babet (of the United Australia Party).
In an update on Nov. 22, Senator Antic moved the motion in the Australian Senate with the support of two One Nation senators, but it failed to pass with the vote split 29 to 29.
Questions Linger Over Pandemic Response
In recent Estimate hearings, the senators have consistently probed Australian health authorities on how they considered scientific data that contributed to the handling of the pandemic.Prof. Anne Kelso said a combined committee, including the Council, the Australian Research Council, and the CSIRO examined 6,000 projects conducted over the last 10 years.
Canavan noted, however, that the details of the 17 projects were not publicly revealed because he had been told that there were potential “serious threats to the personal and professional lives of scientists.”
In response, he pressed Kelso for details of those projects.
“This is publicly funded research. This type of research involves infectious agents that potentially—I do not accept the rationale you gave before—created coronavirus,” he said.
“You cannot be laws unto yourselves, and this review, to me, smacks of the fox looking after the henhouse here. You’re reviewing your own research, and the report is very defensive.”