Bar Association Urges Government to Reform Vaccine Damage Compensation System... "Government Should Bear Burden of Proof"

[Asia Economy Reporter Baek Kyunghwan] The Korean Bar Association has demanded a complete overhaul of the COVID-19 vaccine damage compensation system from the government. The demand includes that the government should bear the burden of proving the causal relationship of side effects caused by vaccination.

On the 8th, the Bar Association stated in a press release, "Despite the increasing number of deaths suspected to be caused by vaccine side effects and victims suffering from severe aftereffects, the government is strictly judging the causal relationship with the vaccine and showing a passive attitude toward compensating the public for damages caused by vaccination."

In particular, the Bar Association said, "This method of reviewing vaccine damage compensation raises serious concerns regarding potential violations of fundamental human rights such as the right to life and the pursuit of happiness of vaccine victims." They added, "If the fact of vaccination is proven, it should be presumed that damage to life or health was caused by the vaccine, and the law and system should be changed so that the state compensates for losses unless it can prove that the damage was caused by other reasons."

They also mentioned the reorganization of the personnel of the Vaccination Damage Compensation Expert Committee. Since more than 11 of the 15 members of the expert committee are medical professionals such as doctors, sufficient legal experts should be included to review and evaluate from the victims' perspective.

Furthermore, they added, "For fair damage compensation review, epidemiological investigations and damage compensation reviews should be separated," and suggested improving the review method by excluding doctors who participated in epidemiological investigations from the review committee.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.