Vaccine Damage Payment


The Vaccine Damage Payment is a provision of the Welfare state in the United Kingdom that provides a substantial payment for people who can show that they have suffered a vaccine injury.

Description

The Vaccine Damage Payment program was created in 1979 to provide significant payment to people who are severely disabled as a result of vaccinations against certain diseases. It is a statutory program, and it is not necessary to demonstrate negligence in order to qualify.
An FOI to The Department for Work and Pensions was made in 2019. The DWP’s response states that up until May 2019 £74,690,000 has been paid out from the fund, and 941 claims have been successful.

Qualifications

To qualify for the program, a person must be severely disabled as a result of a vaccination, and the disablement must be assessed as at least 60%. The state will still pay even if the vaccination was not administered by them. Additionally, a person can still qualify if a vaccine against one of the diseases listed below was administered to the claimant's mother while the mother was pregnant. The claimant may also qualify if they have been in close physical contact with someone who had an oral vaccine against poliomyelitis.
The vaccination must have been for one of the following diseases:
The vaccination must also have been administered before the claimant's 18th birthday, unless the vaccination was administered during an outbreak of disease in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man, or if it was a vaccine for poliomyelitis, rubella, Meningococcal Group C, human papillomavirus, or pandemic influenza A 2009. The vaccination must have been administered in the United Kingdom or the Isle of Man, or as part of Armed Forces medical treatment.
In 2018, the Department of Health and Social Care conceded that the age restriction wrongly excluded adults from the program.