ACC pays out $9.6m for COVID-19 vaccine injures
The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) in New Zealand has paid out over $9.6 million to 1,664 people injured by the COVID-19 vaccine.
Injuries include allergic reactions, sprain, cardiac injury, contusion, adverse drug reaction, anaphylactic reaction, Infection, shoulder Damage/Injury, cellulitis, bursitis, Inflammation and nerve damage.
The latest data covers the period from February 18, 2021, when vaccinations began in New Zealand, to April 6, 2024.
Of the 4,156 claims filed with the ACC, 1,664 were accepted, 2,440 were declined, and 52 remain undecided. Specifically, 504 of the accepted claims have led to payments exceeding $500 as of April 9, 2024.
However, 253 accepted claims had not received payments by the same date.
Payment breakdowns show that 182 claimants received between $1,000 to $5,000, 140 received between $500 to $1,000, over 500 received between $100 to $500, and 57 received between $5,000 to $10,000. A notable number of accepted claims, 178, involved cardiac injuries.
Among these claims, the specific vaccine administered was not always identified, making it difficult to attribute injuries to a particular vaccine.
However, the majority of the claims have been linked to the Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty vaccine, reflecting its prevalent use in the national vaccination programme.
The data was compiled through a text search of claim forms received by the ACC, which mentioned names of vaccines like Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech), AstraZeneca, Vaxzevria (an alternative name for AstraZeneca's vaccine), Novavax, Nuvaxovid (the name for the Novavax vaccine), or included terms related to COVID-19 or vaccination such as 'covid', 'Pfizer', 'vacc', 'injection', 'booster', 'jab', or 'shot'.
Additionally, ACC disclosed five claims related to fatal injuries, although details about these cases were not specified.
In response to concerns about vaccine safety, Margie Apa, Chief Executive of Te Whatu Ora, said in December that "vaccines remain safe and effective" and urged the public to stay current with their vaccinations to protect themselves, their families, and their communities.
The words “safe and effective” appear to have been removed on the Ministry of Health website.
An Auckland University article on the transmission of the virus still has outdated and incorrect information on the COVID vaccine online.
Meanwhile, in Canada, the federal government has added $36.4 million to a programme designed to support people who have been seriously injured or killed by vaccines since the end of 2020.
The programme was announced shortly after COVID-19 shots first became available to the public, and provides financial compensation to people who were adversely affected by Health Canada-approved vaccines.
