The federal government has topped up its Vaccine Injury Support Program with $36.4 million in new funding over the next two years.
The recently introduced
federal budget sets aside $19 million for the program in 2024 and another $17 million in 2025.
The Vaccine Injury Support Program (
VISP) was launched in June 2021 following the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that Canadians who experienced “a serious and permanent injury” due to any Health Canada-authorized vaccines had “fair and timely access to financial support.”
VISP applies to all individuals vaccinated in Canada except for those vaccinated in Quebec, which has its own program. Payment management has been contracted to private-sector company Oxaro, formerly known as RCGT Consulting Inc.
In a statement to The Epoch Times, Health Canada said the federal government initially set aside $75 million for the first five years of the vaccine injury program as well as Quebec’s program.
“To date, $56.2 million over 5 years has been allocated to OXARO for administration costs and claim payments, and up to $7.75 million over 5 years has been allocated to the Government of Quebec for the continued delivery of its provincial vaccine injury compensation program,” a Health Canada spokesperson said.
As of December 2023,
VISP has paid out $11.2 million in compensation to applicants. Of the 2,233 applications received by the program, 1,825 were deemed admissible, 1,032 are in the process of collecting medical records, 138 claims have been approved by the Medical Review Board, and another 164 applications are pending review for eligibility.
Vaccine Injuries
There have been 58,712 “adverse events” reported following COVID vaccination, with 11,702 being labelled as “serious” and 47,010 being labelled as “non-serious,” according to
statistics from the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) last updated on Jan. 5, 2024.
There have also been a total of 488 reports of death following vaccination, while Health Canada says those deaths are “not necessarily related to the vaccine.”
Several Canadians who used VISP have told The Epoch Times they were frustrated by the program’s long wait times, poor employee communication,
and insufficient payouts. The four Canadians also said they had spoken to others who were frustrated by VISP’s operations.
A Health Canada spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the timelines for determining the eligibility of Canadians depend on the “nature and complexity of the claim,” and that all claims are individually assessed by medical experts.
The health agency added that if a “probable” link to the vaccines is found following analysis, the severity and duration of the injury will determine the amount of financial support.
Additionally, the spokesperson said claimants have an opportunity to “appeal if they disagree with the decision reached,” by the experts. The physician committee that reviews appeals is composed of different panel members than those who made the initial determination.
