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VACCINE

Denmark gives woman compensation for Covid-19 vaccine side effects

A 30-year-old woman from the Greater Copenhagen region has become the first person in Denmark to receive compensation for side effects caused by Covid-19 vaccination.

Published: 28 May 2021 09:09 CEST
Denmark gives woman compensation for Covid-19 vaccine side effects
File photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The woman was affected by the rare, but serious blood clots technically known as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) after receiving the vaccine from AstraZeneca, the Danish patient compensation board (Patienterstatningen) confirmed to newspaper Politiken .

“After reading the woman’s patient records, there was no doubt,” the board’s director Karen-Inger Bast told the newspaper.

She was hospitalised after receiving the vaccine in January. She experiences severe headaches a few days after being given the jab and was later diagnosed with blood clots in her brain and liver. She was subsequently diagnosed with VITT.

The compensation body upheld her claim that the blood clots with which she was diagnosed were related to the vaccine.

“VITT was confirmed and the case was approved because there was a specific set of signs and symptoms which are a rare and serious side effect after (AstraZeneca) vaccination against Covid-19. There is a clear causation link,” Bast said.

So far, the compensation board has ruled the woman can be compensated for sick days from work by discomfort caused by the side effects.

She could also be entitled to further compensation should she suffer longer-term issues related to the side effects.

Because she was given the vaccine in connection with her job, she also has a potential claim for compensation for workplace injury, Politiken writes.

“If she has long-term cognitive injuries after the blood clots, compensation could reach several hundred thousand kroner,” Bast told the newspaper.

The patient compensation board is currently processing 158 claims relating to side effects from coronavirus vaccines.

Of these, 115 relate to the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 38 are from Pfizer vaccinations and 5 from Moderna.

“Patients and doctors should know that (the compensation board) covers all serious side effects from approved vaccines. That includes the Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, even though they have been withdrawn from the vaccination programme,” Bast said.

“Generally, we often see injuries from vaccination. We also see them from, for example, vaccination against influenza and children’s diseases. That’s also how it will be with Covid-19, with up to 5 million people being vaccinated,” she added, stressing that this is “incredibly unfortunate for the individual, which is why it’s good that compensation is possible”.

READ ALSO: Danish company to open first Covid-19 vaccination centre for opt-in scheme

Member comments

  1. Then what is the difference between vaccines approved in the national programme vs. vaccines outside the national program. The compensation board covers all serious side effects from approved vaccines including J&J and AZ.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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