COVID-19

The COVID-19 Vaccine Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme is still running and no claims have been made or paid out yet. Photo: Stock Image / Pixabay

Explainer: How to claim COVID-19 Vaccine Injury Compensation Scheme

The COVID-19 Vaccine Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme will not fall away with the scarpping of the National State of Disaster.

COVID-19

The COVID-19 Vaccine Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme is still running and no claims have been made or paid out yet. Photo: Stock Image / Pixabay

Government’s COVID-19 Vaccine Injury No-Fault Compensation Scheme is alive and well. Anyone who has faced serious COVID-19 injury or the dependent on a person whose death was caused by the vaccine can claim from the scheme.

The claims have to meet certain criteria in order to qualify. Government, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson came to an agreement where the scheme was created. The scheme is funded by the South African government.

According to Business Day, the scheme has not yet received or paid out any claims. 

How does one lodge a report?

  • In order to lodge a claim, one must ensure the vaccine was approved by and met the requirements of the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority.
  • The vaccine must have been received at a registered vaccination site after 17 May 2021
  • The injury faced must have been severe; meaning it results in permanent or temporary physical/mental impairment or death

Where does one lodge the report?

A COVID-19 vaccine-related injury report can be lodge at a health facility. One needs to fill a compensation form out. Then the COVID-19 hotline should be contacted (0800 029 999) or the MedSafety app can be used.

What happens after?

After the injury has been reported, the national immunisation safety expert committee will investigate. The investigation will be to judge the relationship between the injury and the vaccine.

If it is concluded that an injury or death was related to the vaccine, the committee will notify the department of health. The department will then notify the scheme’s administrator, reports TimesLIVE.

From here, the scheme’s administrator will get hold of the complainant and assist with lodging the claim.

Health Department: MILLIONS of vaccine doses to expire by July

The Department of Health says it is exploring all options to avoid wasting as many vaccine doses as possible, as a result of expiration. Millions of COVID-19 vaccine vials which have not been used, risk being discarded.

The department says more than 92 000 unused Pfizer vaccine vials are due to expire on Thursday, 31 March 2022. By July, well over 10 million Pfizer doses will have reached their expiration date, unless they manage to inject them in as many arms as possible. Read the full story here.