The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday denied a news report that it ignored a Presidential Office request to respond to a petition regarding a vaccine injury compensation case rejected by the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) claim evaluation committee.
The Chinese-language news site CTWant yesterday reported that a 42-year-old woman died of acute cerebral edema shortly after she received a third dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, adding that a hospital provided a diagnosis certificate saying the cause of death was associated with the vaccine.
After the VICP claim evaluation committee rejected the family’s case, they hired a lawyer to petition President William Lai (賴清德), whose office asked the Ministry of Health and Welfare to handle the case, the report said.
Photo: Lin Hui-chin, Taipei Times
However, the ministry took nearly a month to reply, and it refused to provide data requested by the family — the committee meeting’s recording and the references they cited, the Web site said.
CDC Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) yesterday told a news briefing in Taipei that the committee conducts independent reviews and is comprised of medical and law specialists and disinterested persons, with 24 members.
Each vaccine injury claim is carefully reviewed, including having medical professionals examine the medical records and examination results, before making a preliminary report, he said, adding that law experts and disinterested people then give further suggestions.
The report and suggestions are then discussed in a meeting before the committee makes a final decision, which is delivered in a report to the applicant and publicized on the CDC’s Web site, he added.
If an applicant is not satisfied with the final decision, they can appeal or file for administrative litigation if they do not accept the result of the appeal, he said.
Presenting a letter from the Presidential Office, Lo said the case was transferred to the Executive Yuan’s secretary-general on Aug. 28, and the secretary-general transferred the letter to the health ministry on Aug. 30.
The directive from the Presidential Office was that the petitioning lawyer had asked for the VICP committee meeting’s recording and references, so the ministry should handle the case and directly respond to the petition applicant, while notifying the office, he said.
The CDC on Sept. 19 replied to the applicant in a letter, and also notified the ministry, Lo said, adding that “directly respond” does not mean it must provide the recording and references to the applicant, but only that it should directly inform the applicant the result of the discussions.
Regarding the meeting recordings, as they include medical records and personal data, the ministry does not preserve or publicize them, and it does not intend to change that policy at this time, he said.
As for the news site’s report that the ministry hired three lawyers to counter the applicant, Lo said the VICP received many applications regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, so it commissioned a law firm that assigns one to three lawyers to handle the cases, so the number of lawyers for any given case is decided by the firm, not the ministry.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS