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VACCINE

Denmark gives woman compensation for Covid-19 vaccine side effects

A 30-year-old woman from the Greater Copenhagen region has become the first person in Denmark to receive compensation for side effects caused by Covid-19 vaccination.

Denmark gives woman compensation for Covid-19 vaccine side effects
File photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The woman was affected by the rare, but serious blood clots technically known as vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT) after receiving the vaccine from AstraZeneca, the Danish patient compensation board (Patienterstatningen) confirmed to newspaper Politiken .

“After reading the woman’s patient records, there was no doubt,” the board’s director Karen-Inger Bast told the newspaper.

She was hospitalised after receiving the vaccine in January. She experiences severe headaches a few days after being given the jab and was later diagnosed with blood clots in her brain and liver. She was subsequently diagnosed with VITT.

The compensation body upheld her claim that the blood clots with which she was diagnosed were related to the vaccine.

“VITT was confirmed and the case was approved because there was a specific set of signs and symptoms which are a rare and serious side effect after (AstraZeneca) vaccination against Covid-19. There is a clear causation link,” Bast said.

So far, the compensation board has ruled the woman can be compensated for sick days from work by discomfort caused by the side effects.

She could also be entitled to further compensation should she suffer longer-term issues related to the side effects.

Because she was given the vaccine in connection with her job, she also has a potential claim for compensation for workplace injury, Politiken writes.

“If she has long-term cognitive injuries after the blood clots, compensation could reach several hundred thousand kroner,” Bast told the newspaper.

The patient compensation board is currently processing 158 claims relating to side effects from coronavirus vaccines.

Of these, 115 relate to the AstraZeneca vaccine, while 38 are from Pfizer vaccinations and 5 from Moderna.

“Patients and doctors should know that (the compensation board) covers all serious side effects from approved vaccines. That includes the Covid-19 vaccines from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, even though they have been withdrawn from the vaccination programme,” Bast said.

“Generally, we often see injuries from vaccination. We also see them from, for example, vaccination against influenza and children’s diseases. That’s also how it will be with Covid-19, with up to 5 million people being vaccinated,” she added, stressing that this is “incredibly unfortunate for the individual, which is why it’s good that compensation is possible”.

READ ALSO: Danish company to open first Covid-19 vaccination centre for opt-in scheme

Member comments

  1. Then what is the difference between vaccines approved in the national programme vs. vaccines outside the national program. The compensation board covers all serious side effects from approved vaccines including J&J and AZ.

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COVID-19

IN NUMBERS: Has the Omicron Covid-19 wave peaked in Denmark?

The number of new Covid-19 infections fell on Saturday for the second day in a row, following a three-day plateau at the start of last week. Has the omicron wave peaked?

IN NUMBERS: Has the Omicron Covid-19 wave peaked in Denmark?
Graffiti in the Copenhagen hippy enclave of Christiania complaining of Omicron's impact on Christmas. Photo: Philip Davali/Scanpix

How many cases, hospitalisations and deaths are there in Denmark? 

Denmark registered 12,588 new cases in the 24 hours leading up to 2pm on Saturday, down from the 18,261 registered on in the day leading up to Friday at 2pm, which was itself a decline from the record 28,283 cases recorded on Wednesday. 

The cases were identified by a total of 174,517 PCR tests, bringing the positive percentage to 7.21 percent, down from the sky high rates of close to 12 percent seen in the first few days of January. 

The number of cases over the past seven days is lower than the week before in almost every municipality in Denmark, with only Vallensbæk, Aarhus, Holseterbro, Skanderborg, Hjørring, Vordingborg,  Ringkøbing, Kolding, Assens, Horsens, Thisted, and Langeland reporting rises. 

Hospitalisations have also started to fall, with some 730 patients being treated for Covid-10 on Saturday, down from 755 on Friday. On Tuesday, 794 were being treated for Covid-19 in Danish hospitals, the highest number since the peak of the 2020-21 winter wave.

The only marker which has not yet started to fall is the number of deaths, which tends to trail infections and hospitalisations. 

In the 24 hours leading up to 2pm on Saturday, Denmark registered 28 deaths with Covid-19, the highest daily number recorded since 20 January 2021, when 29 people died with Covid-19 (although Denmark’s deadliest day was the 19 January 2021, when 39 people died). 

How does Denmark compare to other countries in Europe? 

Over the last seven days, Denmark has had the highest Covid-19 case rate of any country in Europe bar Ireland. The number of new infections in the country has climbed steadily since the start of December, apart from a brief fall over Christmas. 

So does this mean the omicron wave has peaked? 

Maybe, although experts are not sure. 

“Of course, you can hope for that, but I’m not sure that is the case,” said Christian Wejse, head of the Department for Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital. “I think it is too early to conclude that the epidemic has peaked.”

He said that patients with the Omicron variant were being discharged more rapidly on average than had been the case with those who had the more dangerous Delta variant. 

“Many admissions are relatively short-lived, thankfully. This is because many do not become that il, and are largely hospitalized because they are suffering with something else. And if they are stable and do not need oxygen, then they are quickly discharged again.” 

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during a visit to an event held by the Social Liberal party that the latest numbers made her even more optimistic about the coming month. 

“We have lower infection numbers and the number of hospitalisations is also plateauing,” she said. “I think we’re going to get through this winter pretty well, even if it will be a difficult time for a lot of people, and we are beginning to see the spring ahead of us, so I’m actually very optimistic.” 

She said that she had been encouraged by the fact that Omicron was a “visibly less dangerous variant if it is not allowed to explode.” 

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