After COVID-19 Vaccination, 'Unconfirmed Cause of Death' Compensation Increased to 30 Million KRW

Ruling Party and Government to Discuss 'Vaccine Damage Compensation' on 6th
In Cases of Unclear Cause of Death After Autopsy
Death Consolation Payment Increased from 10 Million to 30 Million Won

The ruling party and the government have decided to increase the death consolation payment from the current 10 million won to 30 million won for cases where a person dies after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine, even if the cause of death remains unclear after an autopsy.

Officials from the People Power Party and the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) held a "Vaccine Damage Compensation Party-Government Council" at the National Assembly on the 6th and announced this plan. Park Dae-chul, the chairman of the Policy Committee, stated, "Through the ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Safety Research Center and by reflecting domestic and international studies, we will continuously expand the scope of causality recognition," adding, "We will also steadily broaden the range of suspected related diseases based on research results so that those with a plausible causal relationship can receive death consolation payments and medical expenses, thereby improving the system."

To strengthen the "National Responsibility System for Vaccine Adverse Reactions," a key policy task of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, the ruling party and government agreed to expand the death consolation payment and the recognition period for cases where causality is difficult to establish. Until now, a death consolation payment of 10 million won was provided to those who died within 42 days after vaccination if the cause of death was not confirmed by autopsy. However, according to the agreement on this day, the eligible period will be extended up to 90 days, and the support amount will be increased up to 30 million won.

Park Dae-chul, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, is speaking at the government-party consultation meeting on vaccine damage compensation held at the National Assembly on the 6th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

Support for death consolation payments in cases where the cause of death after vaccination is unidentified has been in effect since July last year. The ruling party and government also decided to provide additional support of up to 20 million won for cases excluded from support before the system was implemented due to "no autopsy performed."

Cases of death shortly after vaccination and unusual death cases will be reviewed again and support will be provided. For deaths occurring within three days after vaccination, 10 million won will be provided, and for rare cases where the time between vaccination and death is close, support ranging from 10 million to 30 million won will be provided after multifaceted review.

A "Special Expert Committee" will also be established to re-examine death cases that were previously excluded from support. Chairman Park said, "Separate from the currently operating Vaccination Damage Compensation Expert Committee, a Special Expert Committee will be established to re-discuss death cases that were excluded from damage compensation and support."

Chairman Park explained that the budget for expanding support has already been secured. He said, "The budget is currently secured," adding, "This is the budget secured for this year. The related budget was 29.2 billion won last year, but it has been expanded to 62.5 billion won."

Meanwhile, the KDCA recently decided to withdraw its appeal in a damage compensation lawsuit related to a death after COVID-19 vaccination. Earlier, on the 7th of last month, the bereaved family of a man who died after COVID-19 vaccination won a lawsuit against the KDCA director, who had rejected their claim for adverse reaction damage compensation. Following this, the KDCA had expressed an intention to "wait for the second trial ruling."

Director Ji said, "Since the last report to the standing committee, we have accepted the opinions of the committee members and, in the spirit of the state taking maximum responsibility for the damage suffered by the people who participated in vaccination during the COVID-19 crisis, we have decided to withdraw the appeal, and the procedure is underway."