Drug firms won't fund vaccine plan

MAJOR DRUG companies have said they will not contribute to a State-run compensation scheme for people who suffer adverse reactions to vaccines.

The Government is considering establishing a scheme which would entitle individuals who suffer severe adverse reactions from immunisation programmes to payments of between €15,000 and €200,000.

A report from the Vaccine Damage Steering Group said that for an individual to qualify for payment, an “adverse event” would need to have lasted more than six months or resulted in a hospital stay, surgery or death.

In a submission to the steering group, the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association – which represents major drug firms including GlaxoSmithKline, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and Sanofi Pasteur MSD – said it supported establishing such a fund.

However, it added: “It would neither be appropriate nor fair to expect vaccine companies to help fund such a scheme.

“The industry will continue to provide funds for the extensive and exhaustive system of checks in place concerning their products and will also pay compensation where it is proven that it is appropriate to do so.”

The industry said it was “very sympathetic” to the plight of any person thought to be damaged by vaccines.

“They are answerable in court if it is proved that their products have caused damage to people who use them and they have not warned them of the possible side effect of using the vaccine.”

This, it said, was not usually the case in vaccine damage payment schemes, which typically allow payments to be made on the “balance of probabilities” when deciding on the possible cause of a disability.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association said that while vaccines were extremely safe, no vaccine was completely without adverse effects. A number of families have been pursuing compensation for alleged damage to their children from the whooping cough vaccine in the 1960s and 1970s.