President Andrzej Duda signed an act on the creation of a compensation fund

This act adds provisions on compensation benefit and creates the Immunization Compensation Fund , which will provide patients with legal remedies enabling them to quickly obtain cash benefits in connection with adverse effects caused by administration of a vaccine or vaccines.

Where, as a result of the protective vaccination referred to in the regulations issued on the basis of art. 3 sec. 4 point 2, art. 17 sec. 10 or article. 46 sec. 4 point 7 of the Act on the prevention and combating of infections and infectious diseases in humans, the person who received this vaccination, within 5 years from the date of administration of the vaccine or vaccines, experienced side effects listed in the Characteristics of the Medicinal Product, referred to in the Act with on September 6, 2001 - Pharmaceutical Law, as a result of which: the person required hospitalization for a period of not less than 14 days or the person experienced anaphylactic shock requiring observation in a hospital emergency department or emergency room, or hospitalization for a period shorter than 14 days - this person is entitled to a compensation benefit paid from the Compensation Vaccination Fund.

The compensation benefit is:
1) observation in a hospital emergency department or emergency room in connection with an anaphylactic shock - PLN 3,000;
2) hospitalization due to an anaphylactic shock lasting less than 14 days - PLN 10,000;
3) hospitalization lasting (in six intervals) from 14 to more than 120 days - from PLN 10,000 to PLN 100,000 - in proportion to the period of hospitalization.

Compensation benefit is additionally increased in the event of another event explicitly specified in the act - depending on its duration and type, by the amounts from PLN 5,000 to 20,000. The compensation benefit also covers the reimbursement of the costs of further treatment or rehabilitation after the completion of observation or hospitalization, in the amount not exceeding PLN 10,000. The total amount of the compensation benefit cannot exceed PLN 100,000.

The compensation benefit is granted by the Patient Ombudsman by way of a decision, after obtaining the opinion of the Benefits Team operating at the RPP from the Protective Vaccination Compensation Fund. The decision in the case may be appealed against to the administrative court. The opinion on the matter is issued by the Team within one month from the date of receipt of the application for a compensation benefit composed of three members, and the decision is issued within 2 months from the date of receipt of the complete application. Submitting the application requires a fee (PLN 200). The compensation benefit and the reimbursement of the fee (which takes place in the event of granting the right to compensation benefit) are paid within 14 days from the date of the expiry of the deadline for appealing against the decision in the case.
An application for a compensation benefit may be submitted within one year from the last day of observation or hospitalization in connection with the event giving rise to the payment of the benefit, no later than 5 years from the date of the protective vaccination referred to in the introduction to the regulations. In the event of an update of the Summary of Product Characteristics, an administered vaccine or administered vaccines, consisting in the addition of an undesirable effect not mentioned previously, the application for a compensation benefit related to such an effect may be submitted within one year from the date of the update, but not later than after 5 years from the date of the protective vaccination referred to in the above-mentioned regulations.
The Ombudsman for Patients' Rights is to make available on the website a template of the application for granting a compensation benefit enabling the provision of data and information required by the Act, in paper or electronic form.

The Act shall enter into force after 14 days from the date of its announcement, with the exception of the provisions imposing on entities that have concluded an agreement with the State Treasury for the delivery of vaccines for carrying out preventive vaccinations, the obligation to pay to the Fund - these provisions will enter into force on January 1, 2023. .

Source: Prezydent.pl