Insufficient Causality Deaths After Vaccination, 50 Million Won Consolation Payment... Authorities Say "Korea's Compensation Level Highest Among OECD"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The government is pushing to strengthen compensation for adverse reactions following COVID-19 vaccination.

The COVID-19 Vaccination Response Promotion Team announced on the 10th that, to strengthen the state's responsibility for adverse reactions, it will establish a condolence payment of 50 million KRW per person for deaths with insufficient evidence of causality starting next year. The support will be retroactively applied not only to adverse reactions occurring from next year but also to cases that occurred previously. Earlier in October, the government announced that it would provide medical expense support of up to 30 million KRW even in cases with insufficient evidence of causality.

However, the newly established condolence payment for deaths will not be paid to all 957 cases reported as deaths following vaccination so far. Kim Ji-young, head of the Compensation Review Team at the Promotion Team, explained, "Currently, only seven people are eligible, and it is not paid to all deaths following vaccination."

The Promotion Team explained that among OECD member countries, South Korea's recognition rate for COVID-19 vaccination injury compensation is very high, and efforts are continuously being made to expand compensation and support categories based on scientific evidence.

According to the Promotion Team, as of the 23rd of last month, South Korea's recognition rate for COVID-19 vaccination injury compensation was 67 cases per one million people, the highest among 23 OECD member countries surveyed through overseas diplomatic missions by that date. Team leader Kim said, "Compared to the vaccinated population, South Korea has the highest recognition rate for injury compensation."

Among these countries, 13 countries (35.1%) operate national vaccination injury compensation systems, and 6 countries (16.2%) have recognized injury compensation. Among these countries, Finland recognized 20.4 cases, Norway 1.9 cases, Sweden 1.4 cases, Denmark 1.3 cases, Israel 0.1 cases, and the United States 0.004 cases per one million people. The United Kingdom completed vaccination for 44.72 million people but did not recognize any injury compensation cases following vaccination. Japan, based on data compiled on October 5, recognized 0.7 cases per one million people.

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