Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program Has Paid Out Nearly $7 Million in Claims Since December 2020

A health worker draws out a Moderna vaccine dose during a drive-through COVID-19 vaccine clinic at St. Lawrence College in Kingston, Ont., on Jan. 2, 2022. Lars Hagberg/The Canadian Press

Canada’s Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) has paid out nearly $7 million in claims since it first launched, according to updated bi-annual records.

According to the VISP, a total of 1,859 claims have been received thus far from Canadians who suffered death or injury as a result of vaccines administered in Canada on or after Dec. 8, 2020. A total of 103 claims have been approved to date, with payments totalling $6,695,716.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, a total of 1,553 claims have been determined to be admissible, 240 were deemed inadmissible, and 66 are still pending administrative review for eligibility.

The VISP was created in December 2020 to ensure that all people in Canada who have experienced “a serious and permanent injury” as a result of receiving a Health Canada-authorized vaccine administered in Canada on or after Dec. 8, 2020, will receive timely and fair financial support. The VISP serves all people vaccinated in Canada, except for those vaccinated in Quebec, who will receive coverage from the province’s longstanding program.

The VISP defines a “serious and permanent injury” as a “severe, life-threatening or life-altering injury that may require in-person hospitalization, or a prolongation of existing hospitalization, and results in persistent or significant disability or incapacity, or where the outcome is a congenital malformation or death.”

According to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), a total of 98.2 million vaccine doses were administered as of May this year, which resulted in 55,145 “adverse events.” The agency has reported 332 blood clots, 289 strokes, 198 cases of facial paralysis, 149 heart attacks, 88 spontaneous abortions, 79 kidney injuries, and 37 cases of liver damage.

The PHAC has found there were 442 deaths following vaccination for COVID-19. “Although these deaths occurred after being vaccinated with a Covid-19 vaccine they are not necessarily related to the vaccine,” the agency said in a statement.

The PHAC wrote in a 2021 memo that a total of $75 million in funding has been earmarked for the first five years of the program. It said the overall cost of the program was dependent on the “volume of claims and compensation awarded over time.”

Funeral expenses are covered by VISP. “Eligible individuals may receive income replacement indemnities, injury indemnities, death benefits, coverage for funeral expenses and reimbursement of eligible costs such as otherwise uncovered medical expenses,” said the briefing note.

Management of the program was contracted out to Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting, which is the same firm that manages a $21.6 million Memorial Grant Program that pays $300,000 to families of police, firefighters, and paramedics who die as a result of service.

Dr. Supirya Sharma, the senior medical adviser for the health department, earlier told reporters the long-term effects of COVID-19 vaccines were not known. “The benefits outweigh the potential risks but it is still a drug and still a vaccine and there are potential risks even if they’re rare. That’s why we continue to monitor it,” she said.