Individuals who suffer from serious side effects due to their COVID-19 vaccination can apply for financial aid starting today (17 Mar), said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The Ministry explained that their applications come under the Vaccine Injury Financial Assistance Programme for COVID-19 vaccination (VIFAP) and will need to be submitted with medical information detailing the serious side effect from the doctor treating them.

Following that, an independent clinical panel will look into all the applications to study how serious the effects are and how much they are related to the vaccine received.

Should a person experience side effects due to the vaccine, the amount of the one-time goodwill payout will be based on the severity of the side effects. Those who require inpatient hospitalisation and medical intervention and who later recover will receive S$2,000.

As for those who need admission into high-dependency or intensive care wards and subsequently recover, they will be given S$10,000.

However, if anyone dies or suffer permanent severe disability due to the vaccination, they will get S$225,000.

On 28 Jan, the MOH had already revealed the two higher payout tiers, but not the lowest tier of S$2,000.

Yesterday, the Ministry said that the financial payouts are given to strengthen the support offered to those who suffer from serious side effects as a result of the vaccination.

“The VIFAP is not meant to reimburse medical costs,” it explained, adding that it in fact offers an added later of financial help on top of the existing government healthcare financial schemes like subsidies, MediShield Life, MediSave and MediFund.

The programme is for all Singapore citizens, permanent residents as well as long-term pass holders who have received the COVID-19 shot in the country.

“Vaccination is critical to keep us and our loved ones safe from COVID-19, and it is a key enabler for us to return to normalcy. While COVID-19 vaccination is voluntary, we strongly encourage Singaporeans and long-term residents who are medically eligible to come forward for vaccination when their turn comes,” said MOH.

Upon reading the above news, netizens were quick to express their hesitance towards taking the COVID-19 vaccines.

Penning their thoughts on The Straits Times‘ Facebook page, online users highlighted that the Government itself has no confidence that the vaccine will be safe for all, yet continues to encourage the public to get the jab.

Others said that the Government will never offer the payouts to those who suffer severe side effects due to the vaccine, as medical officers will point out that the side effects were caused by other medical issues, and not due to the vaccines.

One user claimed she was hospitalised for 34 days after taking the vaccine and that she is suffering from weakness in her legs and is not able to walk, run and swim like before.

“My case passed from doctor to doctor, until writing this time of writing this comment, non would link to vaccine,” she wrote, adding that other people have reached out to her after suffering similar weakness in legs following taking the vaccine.

She also said that payouts for severe side effects are “totally unheard about in reality”.

Separately, several countries have suspended the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine over fears that it may have caused recipients to develop blood clots.

In recent news, the Dutch government halted the use of AstraZeneca’s vaccine after ten cases of blood clots potentially linked to the vaccine were reported in the Netherlands.

Ireland and the Netherlands became the latest countries to suspend their use of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine out of precaution. Denmark, Norway and Iceland have also paused their rollout of the jab.

AstraZeneca on Sunday (14 Mar) said there was no evidence of increased blood clots from the jab after outcomes from 17 million doses were analysed.

The pharmaceutical company said the 15 incidences of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 22 events of pulmonary embolism reported among those given the vaccine was “much lower than would be expected to occur naturally in a general population”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) have both said there is no evidence the use of the jab should be suspended.

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