The Government is planning to approve a vaccine-damage scheme before the end of the year, despite the process previously stalling.
An ex-gratia scheme for the small percentage of people who have a significant adverse reaction to a vaccine will be modelled on similar programmes in the UK, France, Finland and elsewhere.
A source familiar with the plan being developed by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly said that the State has established a number of vaccination programmes – some of which operate on the basis of “community immunity” to protect the population and therefore require a high level of take-up.
Rare events can occur in reaction to a vaccine despite extensive processes to test them, proper design, manufacture and delivery. The source said there was a “moral argument” that if the State is encouraging vaccination it should accept it has some responsibility towards the small number of individuals who suffer harm.
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The Vaccine Solidarity Scheme would cover moderate to severe adverse reactions and a panel of legal and medical experts would be established under Mr Donnelly’s plan to assess claims as they are lodged.
Pursuing compensation following such an event currently means expensive and time-consuming litigation, which can also leave the State on the hook for significant legal costs.
The scheme would cover adverse events arising from State-provided vaccine programmes, including the Covid vaccine, flu, MMR and the suite of childhood and school age vaccinations.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it is finalising the proposal for a vaccine solidarity/damage scheme. “This proposal has been submitted to the Department of Public Expenditure for its consideration. We hope to be in a position to bring it to Government for consideration in the autumn.”
A 2020 report on the handling of medical negligence claims produced by an expert group chaired by Mr Justice Charles Meenan recommended the introduction of an ex-gratia scheme for people who suffered injury arising from vaccination programmes where the reaction was moderate or severe.
Adverse reactions in vaccinations are rare. The American Centre for Disease Control outlines that life-threatening allergic reactions to the flu jab, for example, are very rare, and that while there is a small possibility such a vaccine could be associated with more serious conditions such as the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome, they are present in one to two cases per million people vaccinated.
In 2021, Mr Donnelly ruled out setting up a specific scheme for claims related to the Covid-19 jab but said work on the establishment of a wider compensation scheme was under way. Last summer, the Department of Health said scoping work had been carried out, and Coalition sources said the plan was a “priority”.
However, the Department of Health said last year the plans have not progressed and blamed the deployment of resources on the Covid-19 public health response.
“During the Covid-19 pandemic, all available Department of Health resources were devoted to the public health response. This has meant that work in the area of a vaccine-damage compensation scheme could not be progressed.”
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