Compensation promised for COVID-19 serious vaccination adverse events
 
News reports about severe adverse events after COVID-19 vaccinations in other countries have apparently worried many Thai people and made them reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
 
That has been complicating the government’s efforts to reach herd immunity against the new coronavirus outbreak by inoculating a majority of the population, despite assurances by several leading medical experts that those serious side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations are extremely rare.
 
By late April, the National Health Security Board has therefore begun discussing a proposal to offer financial compensation to everyone who happens to experience any severe side effects after vaccination.

 

The board, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, later on May 3, 2021 approved the compensation proposal to allow anyone who gets vaccinated against COVID-19, not only people whose health is insured under the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS), to seek compensation under Section 41 of the 2002 National Health Security Act in case of suffering severe side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine.
This specific law allows preliminary financial compensation to be paid promptly to people suffering adverse events in healthcare under the UCS and without having to prove whose fault it was that actually caused harm to these patients.
 
The special financial compensation program for COVID-19 vaccination is from The Emergency Decree on the Provision of Financial Assistance for Entrepreneurs Affected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, B.E. 2563 (2020) for fighting the pandemic in the country.
 


A total of 100.32 million baht has been set aside for funding the financial compensation programme that is applied retrospectively from April 5, 2021, said Dr Jadej Thammatach-aree, secretary-general of the NHSO.
This programme covers everyone who receives the COVID-19 vaccine administered under the government’s national vaccination programme, while those who have vaccinations provided by a private party aren’t entitled to receiving the compensation.
 
By around the middle of this month (May, 2021), a total of 267 cases of non-severe side effects of COVID-19 vaccinations had been recorded by National Health Security Office Region 1 in Chiang Mai and National Health Security Office Region 10 in Ubon Ratchathani.
The National Health Security Office Region 1 recorded 218 cases while the National Health Security Office Region 10 reported the 49 cases, said Dr Jadej.
 
Other regional offices of the NHSO were still compiling information about more cases of COVID-19 side effects by the time these two regional offices reported their cases, he said.
The 218 cases of vaccination side effects recorded by the National Health Security Office Region 1 accounted for only 0.24% of all 91,551 vaccinations at that time, which was extremely low, he said.
 
Of the 218 cases, only 0.05% was rated as serious cases, which in fact referred to side effects that required hospital admission for treatment for conditions that did not caused death, he said.
 
“The most serious case of all these cases was numbness that required hospital admission, while more than half of them dealt with fevers and muscle pains,” he said.
 
This clearly shows how safe the COVID-19 vaccines being used in Thailand are, while the reason the NHSO offers this compensation programme is to boost public confidence that everyone who ever experiences any side effects after vaccination will be taken care of, he said.
 
“Get vaccinated fast… and when the country reaches herd immunity we will look forward to a return to normality and improvement in the economic situation,” he said.
Without any long-term effects, side effects of COVID-19 vaccines may include shortness of breath, rashes, facial swelling and shock, said Dr Suchada Jiamsiri, a deputy director of Bureau of General Communicable Diseases.
 
And as more than 1.46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines had already been administered, no death linked with side effects of the vaccines was recorded so far and all of those experiencing some side effects of the vaccine had fully recovered, she said.
 
The 218 cases of COVID-19 vaccine side effects were detected in pro-active monitoring of possible cases among medical and healthcare workers receiving the vaccine in each province, said Dr Toemchai Temyingyong, the director of National Health Security Office Region 1.
 
These medical and healthcare workers were among the country’s first group of people receiving the vaccine since May 13 and their conditions suspected to be vaccination side effects were observed, followed up on and recorded by organisations administering the vaccine to them, he said.
 
The side effects recorded were grouped into three categories – mild, moderate and serious enough to justify hospital admission, he said.
 
Only 0.05% of vaccine recipients suffered from serious side effects of the vaccine and their symptoms include high fevers, palpitations, dizziness and numbness, he said.
 
As approved by the National Health Security Board on May 3, 2021, at most 400,000 baht will be paid in compensation for a death, a permanent and severe disability, or a chronic disease requiring treatment for the rest of the patient’s life that occurs after the COVID-19 vaccination, while at most 240,000 baht will be paid in compensation for loss of organ or a disability and at most 100,000 baht for less serious chronic injuries or illnesses.
 
Following the May 3, 2021 approval, the board on May 16, 2021 issued two announcements associated with the financial compensation programme for adverse events in the COVID-19 vaccination.
 
One announcement dealt with details of the implementation of this compensation programme and the other with the criteria for paying preliminary financial compensation to vaccine recipients suffering severe side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine administered under the government’s national COVID-19 vaccination programme.
 
The compensation will be paid within five days after the sub-committee tasked with examining and deciding on requests for the financial compensation approves them.
 
A compliant about COVID-19 vaccination side effects can be submitted to every state-run hospital, provincial public health office and regional office of the NHSO within two years from the day these side effects are detected.
 
“The NHSO has appointed the sub-committee to handle these complaints in all health regions,” said Dr Jadej.
 
An appeal against the sub-committee’s decision on compensation cases may later be submitted within 30 days to the NHSO Secretary-General in case the person who lodged the complaint does not agree with the sub-committee’s judgement.