Civic groups Taiwan Women’s Link and Taiwan Association for Human Rights yesterday criticized the Ministry of Health and Welfare for amending regulations on vaccine injury compensation in February, saying that it significantly passes on the risk of adverse reactions to vaccine recipients.
The ministry on Feb. 18 promulgated amendments to the Regulations Governing Collection and Review of Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund (預防接種受害救濟基金徵收及審議辦法).
Among the amended articles is Article 13, which defines how the vaccine injury compensation working group assesses and classifies the causal relationship between vaccination and an alleged injury.
Photo: CNA
The relationship is classified into three categories — “unassociated,” “associated” and “indeterminate” — and one of the conditions that is assessed as “unassociated” is “medical evidence shows no causality.”
Taiwan Women’s Link founder and chairperson Huang Sue-ying (黃淑英) said the amendment added the phrase “medical evidence does not support causality” into the conditions for assessing an “unassociated” causal relationship, which would pass on the risk of adverse reactions to vaccine recipients.
She said vaccination is an important tool to help stop the COVID-19 pandemic, but many people are concerned that the AstraZeneca vaccine might cause blood clotting.
However, according to the amended article, the vaccine injury compensation working group might deem such cases as “unassociated,” as there is not enough scientific evidence to support a causal relationship, she said, adding that people’s right to vaccine injury relief would be greatly limited due to the amendment.
Academia Sinica Information Law Center director Chiou Wen-tsong (邱文聰) said that the phrase “medical evidence does not support causality” only means that current medical studies have not proven a causal relationship, but is not equal to having “no causal relationship.”
When vaccines are being administered under emergency use authorization, there might only be limited knowledge about their adverse effects, but if vaccine recipients have to bear the risk of adverse events, vaccine makers or the government would not have any incentive to further explore causal relationships between adverse events and vaccination, he said.
The groups urged the ministry to reconsider the amendment so that people can be better protected by the vaccine injury compensation program, which would increase their willingness to get vaccinated.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and