The Council of Ministers adopted a bill establishing the Protective Vaccination Compensation Fund. The bill amending the Act on preventing and combating infections and infectious diseases in humans and certain other acts, submitted by the Minister of Health, provides that compensation benefits will be awarded based on a decision by the Patient Rights Ombudsman.
Cases qualifying for a compensation benefit
The compensation benefit will be available:
- in the event of adverse effects listed in the Summary of Product Characteristics of the vaccine or vaccines administered, which resulted in hospitalization for a period of no less than 14 days;
- in the event of anaphylactic shock requiring observation in a hospital emergency department or emergency room, or hospitalization for up to 14 days.
Amount of the compensation benefit
The benefit will be a lump sum, and its amount will depend primarily on the length of hospitalization. For example, observation in a hospital emergency department or emergency room due to anaphylactic shock will qualify for PLN 3,000. Hospitalization due to anaphylactic shock lasting less than 14 days will qualify for PLN 10,000, while hospitalization lasting from 14 to 30 days will qualify for between PLN 10,000 and PLN 20,000.
The benefit may also include the costs of further treatment or rehabilitation after the patient’s hospitalization, up to PLN 10,000. The compensation benefit will be capped at PLN 100,000.
The Patient Rights Ombudsman will decide whether to award the benefit
Compensation benefits will be obtained through an administrative decision issued by the Patient Rights Ombudsman. The application will be processed within a maximum of 60 days.
Submitting an application for a compensation benefit will be subject to a fee of PLN 200, paid into the Fund’s bank account. The fee will be refunded if the compensation benefit is awarded.
The main source of financing for the Protective Vaccination Compensation Fund will be payments made by pharmaceutical companies that have concluded agreements with the state to supply vaccines for mandatory protective vaccinations carried out under the Protective Vaccination Programme. The amount of the payments will depend on the value of the contracts and will amount to 1.5% of the gross contract value. Payments will be made for the first time in 2022.
Special arrangements for pregnant and postpartum women
The bill introduces additional benefits: free provision of medical devices for pregnant women and free provision of medicines and medical devices for women during the postpartum period. This solution will apply from January 1, 2022.
It also provides for replacing paper orders for medical devices and their repair with electronic forms and introduces new deadlines for implementing these functionalities.
Under the bill, Covid-19 vaccinations may also be administered by students in their fifth or sixth year of medical studies, students in their fifth year of dental medicine studies, and students in their third year of first-cycle nursing studies, during their studies and for six months after completing them.
The new solutions are to enter into force on the day following their publication in the Journal of Laws, except for certain provisions that will take effect on different dates.
Source: gov.pl