Canadians injured by COVID-19 vaccines tell The Epoch Times they are frustrated by the federal government’s vaccine injuries compensation program, citing long wait times, poor employee communication, and insufficient payouts.
“It just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, and you kind of feel like you’re out on an island on your own,” said Scott Gorry, who developed myocarditis from the vaccine.
The Ottawa resident said the government “put together a program just to say that they put together a program, but it really doesn’t take care of the people who were injured or who died.”
VISP applies to all individuals vaccinated in Canada except for those vaccinated in Quebec, which has its own program.
‘Seriously Underfunded’
In September 2021, months after receiving his second COVID-19 vaccine, Mr. Gorry began feeling unwell during a softball game. “I remember just taking three deep breaths, and I woke up in the back of the ambulance with paramedics all over. I was legally dead for eight minutes,” he said.
After a week’s stay at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, he was diagnosed with myocarditis and told he needed to have a pacemaker permanently implanted. Doctors acknowledged his injury was likely related to the COVID-19 vaccine and recommended he apply to VISP.
Confirming his VISP application took almost a year, during which he was unable to take part in his usual daily activities.
According to Mr. Gorry, VISP is “seriously underfunded” and staffed by a limited number of inexperienced case workers who are overwhelmed by the number of applications. He also suspects that poor communication by the employees is because they are trying to avoid “difficult conversations” with vaccine-injured Canadians who are not eligible for payments.
He described the payout he received from VISP as “minimal” and not enough to cover a year’s worth of medical expenses. When he contacted his case worker about getting coverage for expenses related to tasks he is unable to do, such as snow shovelling, he never received a response, he said.
“Afterwards, they make it out like things are covered under the program, but they’re not,” he said.
Mr. Gorry, a Conservative staffer, said many federal employees have been understanding about his injury and he has had lengthy conversations with several Conservative MPs and a Liberal MP. “They did support me on the back end, which makes my view and my experience different than maybe what somebody else would have had,” he said.
While he has made some health improvements since the initial injury and tries to “stay positive,” his general quality of life has suffered, he says. “It’s not like I can go out the front yard, throw on some snow pants and play with my kids, because that’s not where my physical abilities are right now,” he said.
According to VISP’s biannual update released Dec. 1, 2023, $11.2 million has been paid out to Canadians. While a total of 2,233 applications have been accepted by the program, 1,825 were deemed admissible, 1,032 require additional medical records, 138 claims have been approved by the Medical Review Board, and 164 are pending review for eligibility.
A VISP 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. If a “probable” link to the vaccines is found after analysis, the severity and duration of the injury will determine the amount of financial support.
“All claimants have an opportunity to appeal if they disagree with the decision reached,” the spokesperson said. “The physician committee reviewing appeals will be comprised of different panel members than those who made the initial determination.”
‘Frustrating and Unprofessional’
After Ross Wightman was given his one and only dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in April 2021, he was temporarily paralyzed and developed Guillain-Barré syndrome, a neurological disorder where the body’s immune system attacks the peripheral nerves. He also experienced damage to his eyesight and facial muscles and spent months in hospital in British Columbia.Mr. Wightman, a B.C. resident, told The Epoch Times he applied to VISP and received payouts fairly quickly, which he attributed to several media articles reporting on his injury. On two occasions, however, he was informed that his case worker had quit while he was still trying to get information from the worker and being ignored.
“It’s super frustrating and unprofessional. You’re dealing with pretty sensitive and unfortunate circumstances with these people needing the program, and communication is extremely poor.”
Mr. Wightman said he eventually received two payments, in June and December 2021, totalling around $270,000, which is close to the upper limit of what VISP will pay out. The 41-year-old said that although he continues to recover, he still has virtually no movement below his knees.
He said he knows of six other Canadians in his area who are going through VISP, and all have had difficulties with the program’s poor communication and slow pace. He said many have waited a year and a half for their applications to be approved.
He heard one person going through VISP saying that their case manager had said, “I can’t believe they’re still pushing the vaccines with all the cases we’re getting.”
High Turnover Rate for Case Workers
Ten days after 43-year-old Shaun Mulldoon received his AstraZeneca COVID-19 shot, he began having severe abdominal pain and thought it was food poisoning. He knew it was something more serious when the pain worsened over the course of a week and he began throwing up and passing blood.Mr. Mulldoon went to Langley Memorial Hospital in Langley, B.C., and around 12 hours after arriving underwent emergency surgery to remove about two metres of his intestine because of blood clots later confirmed to be linked to the COVID-19 vaccine. Doctors discovered additional blood clots in his lungs, spleen, and portal vein.
After two months of hospitalization, he returned home to continue his recovery, which was complicated by side effects from the dozens of medications he was prescribed. He was re-admitted to hospital six months later. He began to improve after surgery to reattach his large intestine to his digestive tract.
He initially believed his claim through VISP would be “relatively cut and dry,” especially since his doctors had provided letters confirming his injuries were caused by the vaccine. However, it took a “frustrating, slow” two years to receive a payment.
He went through four different case managers over two years, as staff members were constantly leaving. He would go several months without hearing from his case worker and would “reach out relentlessly just to ask what was happening.”
“I spoke to numerous people in Canada that are trying to get compensation or have had vaccine injuries, and across the board every single person I spoke to has been frustrated,” he said.
He eventually received a payout for under $60,000 from VISP after he had already returned to work for a year. Although he has made some health improvements since his injury, the payment would have been more useful a year and a half ago, he said.
Employees ‘Dismissive and Rude’
B.C. resident Kristin Ditzel, who practises traditional Chinese medicine, says she was “lucky” to have gone into anaphylactic shock and collapsed 20 minutes after her first COVID-19 vaccine dose in March 2021. Had it happened outside of the vaccine clinic, her injury’s connection to the vaccine might have been in doubt and her VISP application denied.After a few days of muscle spasms and difficulty moving her limbs, Ms. Ditzel went to hospital and was diagnosed with a functional neurological disorder. She then began the process of applying for VISP.
Ms. Ditzel was referred to a neurologist who was initially supportive and suspected her symptoms were related to the COVID-19 vaccine. After being contacted by VISP, the neurologist became uncooperative and dropped her as a patient, she said.
Ms. Ditzel’s neurological symptoms worsened over several weeks, she told The Epoch Times. She experienced difficulties walking, speaking, and processing information, as well as “extreme, seizure-like” convulsions and nerve pain.
“My brain felt like it was being torn out. My body, my spine felt like it was shrinking, and like all my nerves were being torn from the muscles. It was terrifying,” she said.
While applying for VISP benefits, Ms. Ditzel said she went through three case workers who were “dismissive and rude” before she was finally paired with one who was “amazing.” She estimates there were no more than five employees working for the program and said understaffing resulted in months-long wait times and practically no communication.
“When I applied to VISP, it took them seven months to acknowledge that they got my stuff. We had to refill out all of the forms again, and they didn’t even contact me,” she said.
Ms. Ditzel’s VISP application was initially rejected in June 2022, but she repealed the ruling and had her claim accepted in April 2023. She then received a lump sum payment of under $100,000, which was enough to pay off one year’s accumulated medical expenses and debt, she said.
Another issue with VISP is a lack of social workers to help Canadians navigate the system, she said, which takes a mental health toll on the case workers.
“All they have are these generic people that know absolutely nothing about medicine and nothing about social services. They have no background in this at all,” she said.
