Canadian families who suffered death or injury from COVID-19 mRNA vaccines have received more than $11 million from the federal government. Documents released from Blacklock’s Reporter show figures from the Vaccine Injury Support Program, a federal compensation fund. The Ottawa watchdog reported in 2022 the government allocated a total of $75 million in vaccine death and injury compensation over five years. Throughout the pandemic health officials and elected government leaders pushed the vaccine on Canadians with the slogan the technology is “safe and effective.” Canada became the most-vaccinated country in the world, per research from Our World in Data. .The Vaccine Injury Support Program is managed by Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton Consulting, a firm that manages a Memorial Grant Program to compensate families of emergency responders in the event of death during service. The documents show families may make a claim for the vaccine injury program when “the injury is serious and permanent or has resulted in death.” .There have been 2,233 claims filed so far, 1,825 were accepted for processing, and 138 were approved for payment by a Medical Review Board.Payouts as of December 31 were $11,236,314. Categories of paid claims to date were not disclosed, nor is there an estimation as to how many total compensation claims it expects in the coming months and years. .In November, Health Minister Mark Holland bragged in the House of Commons “Canada had among the best responses to COVID-19 anywhere in the world.” “Thanks to vaccines and to other measures we saved literally hundreds of thousands of lives which is something we should really be deeply proud of,” he said. .Despite the health minister’s confident remarks in the Commons, the federal government anticipated the need for such a compensation fund. Back in 2021, the health department wrote a memo announcing “a total of $75 million in funding has been earmarked for the first five years of the program.”.“The program ensures all people in Canada who have experienced a serious and permanent injury as a result of receiving a Health Canada authorized vaccine administered in Canada on or after December 8, 2020 have access to fair and timely financial support,” the memo states. “Eligible individuals may receive income replacement indemnities, injury indemnities, death benefits, coverage for funeral expenses and reimbursement of eligible costs such as otherwise uncovered medical expenses,” said the briefing note..Dr. Supirya Sharma, senior medical advisor for the health department, said in 2020 Health Canada “concluded that there was strong evidence supporting that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks,.” “We know that even the best vaccines will only be effective if people trust them, and ultimately agree to receive them,” she said. “An important part of building trust is openness and transparency, ensuring that people have as much information as possible, to help them make informed decisions for themselves and for those they care for.”
