Report recommends payouts for vaccine damages

CHILDREN who suffer severe damage as a result of a vaccine should get payouts of up to €200,000, a report on adverse reactions to vaccines has recommended.

Published yesterday by the Department of Health, the final report from a Vaccine Damage Steering Group recommends that a €15,000 payment be made for minor damage, €75,000 for moderate damage and €200,000 for severe damage.

However, the report states that any payout under a proposed statutory payment scheme should not be considered as compensation, but rather a “recognition” that a vaccination can cause an adverse event.

The group, established in 2007, recommends that the scheme be administered by the Department of Social and Family Affairs.

At least a third of the 125 vaccine damage claims made to the Department of Health prior to the report alleged severe mental or physical disability.

In the submissions, seen by the Irish Examiner, a litany of mental and physical handicaps are cited, with at least a third of those relating to serious brain damage and/or physical handicap.

However, although submissions from healthcare and pharmaceutical associations are published with the report, those from the families listing physical and mental handicaps are not.

The report was undertaken following a 2002 Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children which recommended a no-fault compensation scheme be established for the “small number of children” who experienced serious reactions to vaccinations.

It has been with the Department of Health since April. A spokesperson for the department said its recommendations were “under consideration”.

Childhood immunisation programme, school immunisation programme vaccines and any vaccine proved by the public health system would come within the scope of the recommended scheme. The group also recommended that the scheme be retrospective and should apply to all cases of vaccination no matter when they occurred.

The report’s author’s maintain the cost of such a scheme would be small as few cases are likely to satisfy the criteria and that this properly reflects the proven low incidence of vaccine damage.

The scheme would be a ‘no-fault’ scheme in that anyone applying would only be required to establish that, on balance of probabilities, the injuries were caused by vaccine damage – and not that any healthcare practitioner was negligent.

However it notes that any person who believes their vaccine damage has been caused negligently still has the right to take a case to court.

Fine Gael Health spokesman Dr James Reilly welcomed the publication of the report. “The most important thing is to attempt to remedy the damage which has been done and provide the support the person needs to live as normal a life as possible,” he said.