The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said it will not rule out appealing a court ruling that it should compensate the family of a senior vocational high-school student who died two years after receiving a flu shot.
The centers made the announcement after the Taipei High Administrative Court ordered the Ministry of Health and Welfare to pay NT$2.08 million (US$63,599) in compensation to the family of the student, surnamed Chen (陳).
Chen was administered a vaccine against the A(H1N1) influenza virus in 2009, but started developing various symptoms, including red and swollen eyes, urticaria and acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), and died of septicemia in 2012, at the age of 18.
Chen’s parents filed for vaccine injury compensation from the ministry, but the compensation committee did not agree that the boy’s death was caused by side effects of the vaccine, so they filed the case to the administrative court.
The Taipei High Administrative Court ruled in favor of Chen’s parents, saying that a link between the boy’s death and the vaccine could not be ruled out ordering compensation.
“The ruling will have an effect on the integrity of the vaccine injury compensation deliberation system,” CDC Director-General Steve Kuo (郭旭崧) said yesterday when answering questions from lawmakers.
He said the case had been deliberated by the vaccine injury compensation committee, which is an independent committee consisting of more than a dozen specialists, and it concluded that Chen’s death was not caused by the vaccine, but by genetically inherited abnormalities in his immune system.
Chen has a family history of systemic lupus erythematosus and had suffered from xerophthalmia (dry eyes) and thyroiditis before, Kup said, adding that ADEM is an immune-mediated inflammatory condition.
“We are worried about the court overruling the conclusion made by a group of specialists,” Kuo said. “We will consider filing an appeal.”
He said that the vaccines have been used for many years and that to protect the rights of those receiving them, the CDC established the vaccine injury compensation deliberation system, but that it is worried that the ruling will make people afraid to be vaccinated against influenza, which would harm disease prevention efforts.
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