The Vaccine Damage Payment is a provision of the

welfare state A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

that provides a substantial payment for people who can show that they have suffered a

vaccine injury A vaccine adverse event (VAE), sometimes referred to as a vaccine injury, is an adverse event caused by vaccination. The World Health Organization (WHO) knows VAEs as Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI). AEFIs can be related to the vacci ...

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 Negligence (Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate and/or ethical ruled care expected to be exercised amongst specified circumstances. The area of tort law known as ''negligence'' involves harm caused by failing to act as a ...

in order to qualify. Between 1997 and 2005, the government of the United Kingdom paid £3.5m, in 35 payments of £100,000 each, to patients who were left disabled by vaccinations. An FOI to The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) 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: *

diphtheria Diphtheria is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Corynebacterium diphtheriae''. Most infections are asymptomatic or have a mild clinical course, but in some outbreaks more than 10% of those diagnosed with the disease may die. Signs and s ...

tetanus Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, is a bacterial infection caused by ''Clostridium tetani'', and is characterized by muscle spasms. In the most common type, the spasms begin in the jaw and then progress to the rest of the body. Each spasm usually ...

pertussis Whooping cough, also known as pertussis or the 100-day cough, is a highly contagious bacterial disease. Initial symptoms are usually similar to those of the common cold with a runny nose, fever, and mild cough, but these are followed by two or ...

(whooping cough) *

poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

mumps MUMPS ("Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System"), or M, is an imperative, high-level programming language with an integrated transaction processing key–value database. It was originally developed at Massachusetts Gener ...

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

(German measles) *

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

(TB) *

haemophilus influenzae ''Haemophilus influenzae'' (formerly called Pfeiffer's bacillus or ''Bacillus influenzae'') is a Gram-negative, non-motile, coccobacillary, facultatively anaerobic, capnophilic pathogenic bacterium of the family Pasteurellaceae. The bacteria ...

type B (HIB) * meningococcal group C (

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

C) *

pneumococcal ''Streptococcus pneumoniae'', or pneumococcus, is a Gram-positive, spherical bacteria, alpha-hemolytic (under aerobic conditions) or beta-hemolytic (under anaerobic conditions), aerotolerant anaerobic member of the genus Streptococcus. They are ...

infection *

human papillomavirus Human papillomavirus infection (HPV infection) is caused by a DNA virus from the ''Papillomaviridae'' family. Many HPV infections cause no symptoms and 90% resolve spontaneously within two years. In some cases, an HPV infection persists and res ...

* pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 (

swine flu Swine influenza is an infection caused by any of several types of swine influenza viruses. Swine influenza virus (SIV) or swine-origin influenza virus (S-OIV) refers to any strain of the influenza family of viruses that is endemic in pigs. As o ...

) - up to 31 August 2010 *

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

- up to 1 August 1971 * Coronavirus (COVID-19) 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

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, or if it was a vaccine for poliomyelitis, rubella, Meningococcal Group C, human papillomavirus, pandemic influenza A (H1N1) 2009 (swine flu) or COVID-19. 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 The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwis ...

conceded that the age restriction wrongly excluded adults from the program.

References

External links

Vaccine Damage Payment
��The UK government's web page on the scheme. Social security in the United Kingdom {{Vaccine safety

Description

Qualifications

See also

References

External links