On December 9, the national medical accident compensation office was ordered to pay €62,000 to an Audoise woman to compensate for damage and an illness directly attributable to vaccination.
On March 4, 2022, the law relating to the rights of patients and the quality of the health system created the national office for compensation for medical accidents, iatrogenic conditions and nosocomial infections (Oniam), a public establishment placed under the supervision of the Ministry of Health. A system intended to compensate patients who are victims of a serious medical accident in the event of recognized fault by the insurance of the professional or health establishment, or in the absence of fault, when the medical accident is considered to be “abnormal” by Oniam. Compensation intended to compensate for “damage caused” par “a medical accident or damage attributable to a biomedical research activity”, “an iatrogenic condition”with the side effect of medical treatment, or “a nosocomial infection”contracted in a health establishment. So many files managed at the level of seven conciliation and compensation commissions (CCI) which cover the territory.
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But since the end of 2020, Oniam, also responsible for victims of emergency health measures and compulsory vaccinations, has had direct control over the compensation mission for “damaging consequences of vaccination against Covid-19”. Possible compensation, specifies Oniam, thanks to “friendly, rapid and optional procedure”, “without taking legal action”which is based on scientific publications, pharmacovigilance analyses, the applicant's medical file, and potential collegial expertise. Between March 2021 and December 2023, Oniam received 1,376 requests from people considering themselves victims of vaccination against Covid. As of the same date, 116 had been compensated amicably. A very modest part of the activity of the office which, in 2023, had paid €188 million in compensation, an amount up 16% compared to 2022, garnering 4,095 initial requests for compensation in 2023. An activity bringing to 81,802 the number of files processed by Oniam since its creation in 2002.
More than 156 million doses injected in France
And “relatively small number of applicants” on the subject of Covid and the more than 156 million injections of vaccine doses, which had been raised by the Senate Social Affairs Committee, leading it to refer the matter to the parliamentary office for scientific and technological choices in February 2022, to discuss on “the adverse effects of vaccines and the latest developments in scientific knowledge on Covid-19”. On May 30, 2024, four deputies and senators submitted their report. The opportunity to look at the activity of Oniam, by hearing its general director, Sébastien Leloup. Who then indicated that, in October 2023, 1,246 requests for compensation had been received in connection with vaccination against Covid, including 279 files linked to cardiac disorders, including 202 for myocarditis and pericarditis, and 229 linked to to neurological disorders.
Oniam then ruled on the claimants' right to compensation in 319 cases, 29% of which received a positive opinion. Among the 91 people compensated amicably, 48% for pericarditis or myocarditis, 11% for neurological disorders, 9% for a stroke, thromboses or pulmonary embolisms, 4% for joint disorders and 4% for disorders dermatological. And an average amount of compensation of around €8,000. Above the €1,300 offered during the transactional protocol at Gruissanaise Virginie Cathala. But well below the €62,000 in compensation to which Oniam was ordered on December 9, 2024, in first instance, to ensure the “full compensation for damages […] directly attributable to vaccination”.
193,934 reports of adverse events
The latest situation update on the surveillance of vaccines against Covid-19, published by the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM), in August 2023, reported 193,934 reports of adverse events ( not necessarily attributable to the vaccine), including 25% serious cases, for more than 156,788,000 injections, compared to 153,452 reports of adverse events recorded in February 2022 when drafting the progress report. In total, since the launch of the vaccination campaign, the vaccine surveillance system has been accompanied by the publication of more than 200 documents: 88 reports from regional pharmacovigilance centers, 65 information points and 61 summary sheets of the ANSM, and 32 reports from EPI-PHARE, a scientific interest group formed by the ANSM and the national health insurance fund (CNAM).
