COVID-19 Vaccine Damage Compensation Act passes NA

Special Act on Compensation for Damages from COVID-19 Vaccination and Act on the Establishment of the Medical Manpower Planning Committee passed the National Assembly’s plenary session

Government will compensate if the person proves a correlation between COVID-19 vaccination and disease

Medical Manpower Planning Committee will deliberate on the medical school enrollment capacity from 2027

A special law that compensates and supports patients who have suffered damage after COVID-19 vaccination was passed at the plenary session of the National Assembly on the afternoon of the 2nd.

 

Also, a partial amendment to the Framework Act on Health and Medical Services, which includes the establishment of a Health and Medical Manforce Planning Estimation Committee under the direct control of the Minister of Health and Welfare, passed the plenary session along with the special act.

 

The National Assembly passed the 'Special Act on Compensation for Damage Caused by COVID-19 Vaccination' with 263 in favor and 2 abstentions out of 265 members present.

 

The Act on the Medical Manpower Planning Committee was passed at the plenary session with 247 in favor, 11 against, and 8 abstentions out of 266 members present.

 

The Special Act expands the scope of vaccine damage compensation, such as by presuming that there is a causal relationship if the temporal correlation between COVID-19 vaccination and the disease occurrence is proven.

 

The government has been administering vaccinations and providing state compensation in accordance with the current Infectious Disease Control and Prevention Act.

 

However, the need for the Special Act was raised as there were indications that the damage caused by COVID-19 vaccination was not being properly compensated, due to limited causality of the damage being accepted.

 

The Special Act, which passed the plenary session, was passed by the National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee in January with consensus from the ruling and opposition parties.

 

The Medical Manpower Planning Committee Act, which will deliberate the number of medical school enrollees from 2027, has also passed the National Assembly, but it is unlikely to serve as a clue to resolve the conflict between the government and the medical community in Korea.

 

The amendment proposes the establishment of the Medical Manpower Planning Committee, an independent deliberation body under the direct control of the MOHW, to deliberate on the estimation of medical personnel by job type.

 

The committee members will consist of no more than 15 experts recommended by medical provider representative organizations, consumer representative organizations, and relevant academic societies, with the majority of the members recommended by providers, such as the Korean Medical Association (KMA), and the chairman of the committee will be elected from among the members recommended by the academic community.

 

In addition, the revised act ensures the independence of the committee and ensures transparency by disclosing the minutes and reference materials, and the appointment of a Medical Manpower Planning center to ensure the professionalism of the planning work.

 

When the committee estimates the size of the medical personnel required, the Health and Medical Services Policy Deliberation Committee, chaired by the Minister of MOHW, will then determine the number of medical school students.