As reported by the Epoch Times, the United States has paid people affected by COVID-19 vaccines for the first time.
Officials said three people have received compensation for their injuries through the Counter Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which is administered by an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services.
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration, a person who experienced severe anaphylactic shock received $2,019.
A person with a heart infection, or myocarditis, received $1,582.
Another suffering from myocarditis received $1,032.
The manufacturer of the vaccines has not been announced.
Information about the people who received payments was also not made public.
The payments are the first time the US government has paid people who have been harmed by COVID-19 vaccines, which can cause serious problems in addition to death, and were first introduced in late 2020.
Under the International Crime Prevention Act, people who survive a vaccine-induced injury can receive money for unpaid medical bills and loss of earned income.
The compensation just awarded appears to only cover medical costs, Wayne Ruddy, author of The Vaccine Court, told The Epoch Times.
“These amounts are so low that it can be reliably assumed that they were just medical expenses that weren’t reimbursed, and that’s it,” Rudd said. “It’s unimaginable what they’re doing, but that’s the program.”
Most of the previous payments have been to people affected by the H1N1 vaccine, including Guillain-Barré syndrome. Some have earned hundreds or thousands of dollars. Eight received at least $106,723. The highest earning ever is $2.2 million.
The Department of Health Services and Resources, which administers the program, did not respond to requests for comment.
CICP is the only place people can get compensation from the federal government due to a COVID-19 emergency declaration first issued during the Trump administration. Most vaccines administered in the United States are covered by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. People who receive compensation through the latter are eligible for more money, in part because more classes are covered, they have more time to file, and attorney fees can be covered.
To receive compensation from the CICP, a person must prove a “causal link” between the vaccine taken and serious bodily injury or death, with the link supported by “convincing, reliable, valid, medical and scientific evidence”. The person must also prove that medical expenses were not reimbursed or that they lost income because they were unable to work due to the injury.
Relatives of deceased persons can apply for death benefits.
Rohde said the CICP limit on death benefits is $423,000 and the maximum lost wages is $50,000, but key questions remain, including whether survivors automatically get a full payment if their application is approved and whether Medicare can be covered. future patients.
Program administrators have largely refused to share details about program payments and rejected applications.
While payments to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program come from a pool formed through a tax on each vaccine, CICP payments are made from congressional appropriations.
The first COVID-19 vaccines were authorized in December 2020. The third vaccine was authorized in the spring of 2021. It has been widely promoted by US health officials and has been used by hundreds of millions of Americans.
Historical numbers of adverse events after vaccination are reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, helping authorities determine that events such as severe anaphylactic shock, anaphylaxis and myocarditis are due to vaccines.
While anyone can enter a report into the reporting system, the CICP only accepts applications submitted within a year of the event. The schedule also covers a small number of events at the moment, though exactly what it covers hasn’t been announced.
As of April 1, there have been 8,133 applications in the CICP related to injuries and/or deaths due to COVID-19 vaccines. Authorities said that hundreds of people were denied due to a lack of adequate medical records or for other reasons. Thousands more are pending or under review.
Only 23 were determined to meet the compensation criterion, including the three who were compensated.
One person experienced myocarditis from a COVID-19 vaccine but did not have “eligible declared losses or expenses,” according to CICP officials.
Of the 19 remaining claimants awaiting compensation, 18 suffered from myocarditis, a related condition called pericarditis, or a combination of myocarditis and pericarditis. The other approved application was for angioedema, a skin condition.
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