B230m paid out in jab compensation

A total of 464 people who have died or become severely and permanently disabled following Covid-19 vaccinations have so far been financially compensated by the government's no-fault compensation programme for vaccine recipients.

Since the launch of the programme on May 19, a total of 3,626 out of all 4,065 requests for the compensation received by the National Health Security Office (NHSO) have been approved, said Dr Jadej Thammatacharee, secretary-general of the NHSO, on Monday.

A total of 230.79 million baht has been paid in compensation for serious side effects including 464 linked deaths and severe disabilities, said Dr Jadej.

As of Monday, another 287 requests for compensation were still being examined by the NHSO's area committees tasked with inspecting reported Covid-19 vaccination adverse events and deciding on the compensation payment, he said.

A total of 1,252 requests have been rejected after these area committees ruled they did not fit the criteria for receiving the financial compensation, he said.

The criteria are broken into three levels of the severity of reported side effects of the vaccine experienced by vaccine recipients, he said.

Illness requiring continuous treatment is compensated for at most 100,000 baht per case, while the maximum compensation for partial disabilities following Covid-19 vaccination is set at 240,000 baht, he said.

At most 400,000 baht is offered in case of death or severe permanent disabilities, he said.

Somkit Punnasiri, a resident of Ayutthaya province whose 70-year-old sister died on July 13 after she had received a Covid-19 vaccine shot, said the process for claiming the financial compensation was very convenient.

Local health officials who visited her at her sister's funeral assisted her in filing the request for the compensation and only about three weeks after that she had received the 400,000-baht compensation on Aug 8, said Ms Somkit.

She later gave all the money to the 70-year-old husband of her dead sister who is currently unemployed, she said.

Each of the area committees handling compensation requests consists of a number of medical experts and members of the public, said Dr Jadej.