Families of 222 people who died or suffered severe reactions after getting Covid-19 vaccinations have received compensation from the government.
Dr Jadet Thammathat-Aree, secretary-general of the National Health Security Office (NHSO), said the government has paid compensation worth 110,295,000 baht to 2,875 people who were proven to have had allergic reactions to a Covid-19 vaccine.
Dr Jadet said the NHSO will compensate each patient according to their condition.
According to the NHSO, 2,641 people who needed to have regular medical treatment were paid a lump sum of 100,000 baht, 12 people who suffered disabilities were paid 240,000 baht, and families of 222 people who died were paid 400,000 baht.
He said the government accepted petitions from those who fell sick with the vaccine's side effects from May 19. So far 3,888 petitions have been submitted to get compensation.
He said the NHSO has received 840 petitions from region office 13 (Bangkok).
Region office 1 (Chiang Mai) received 559 petitions and region office 10 (Ubon Ratchathani) accepted 451 petitions.
Meanwhile, the region offices at Saraburi, Ubon Ratchathani and Rayong have paid the highest compensation of 13 million baht, 11 million baht and 10 million baht respectively.
Dr Jadet said the compensation is not the government's acceptance that the illness had been caused by the Covid-19 vaccine but it is paid generally to ease their symptoms.
People can ask for compensation through three areas which are vaccination points, provincial public health offices and NHSO area offices.
A subcommittee, comprising doctors and civilians, will consider their petitions and set the payout amount.
If they do not agree with the compensation, they can appeal to the NHSO within 30 days.