Vaccination has proven overwhelmingly safe, but new system meant to help those rare cases when someone has suffered
In the early hours after Mother’s Day last year, a day he spent playing in a family baseball game, Ross Wightman, a realtor and father of two from the Okanagan of central British Columbia, woke up with unbearable back pain.
A deeper explanation took quite a bit longer, but in late May a letter arrived from a brand new Canadian program, the medical review board of which had concluded that the “probable” cause of Wightman’s condition was the single dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine he had taken 10 days before picking up a baseball bat in the family game.
In other words, over the past year, you were almost twice as likely to be seriously injured in a car accident than to have a serious side effect from a COVID vaccine. “Three’s a duty to take care of those people, because they did something for the benefit of others and were injured in the process.” The process of applying to the program was a rocky one, Wightman says. He says it felt challenging at first to get some doctors to document his issues as a vaccine injury. The actual application process was a lot of paperwork, while many of his emails to the program went unanswered, he says. He credits a new caseworker with getting the process moving earlier this year.
Injuries covered include those that are severe, life-threatening or life-altering, or that may require hospitalization or cause permanent or significant disability, Wilson says. It’s a definition that can require some interpretation, but he says there will be an appeals process. In the 1980s, the United States introduced its first vaccine-injury program, in part, to help encourage vaccine makers to keep producing the shots necessary for public health. Other countries began to follow suit.
South Africa Latest News, South Africa Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
What the first Canada-wide study of early childhood anxiety tells us about kindergartnersResearchers at McMaster University have conducted the first Canada-wide study of early childhood anxiety, finding that nearly three per cent of kindergarten-age kids had behaviours associated with anxiety.
Read more »
B.C. man among first in Canada to receive compensation for vaccine injuryRoss Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain\u002DBarre Syndrome after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID\u002D19 vaccine
Read more »
B.C. man to receive compensation for vaccine injury one of the first in CanadaRoss Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain\u002DBarre Syndrome after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID\u002D19 vaccine
Read more »
B.C. man to receive compensation for vaccine injury one of the first in CanadaRoss Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain\u002DBarre Syndrome after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID\u002D19 vaccine
Read more »
Banks, commodity stocks lift European shares as markets await ECB meetThe ECB on Thursday is expected to confirm an end to bond-buying this month and investors will be looking for clues on monetary policy
Read more »
Trudeau, Anand meet with Norad commanders, U.S. defense secretary en route to L.A.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Defence Minister Anita Anand got a first-hand look Tuesday at North America's first line of continental defence, a system experts and political leaders agree is badly in need of an upgrade.
Read more »