The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to compensate people for inappropriate inoculation methods as well as side effects from new vaccines being produced to prevent swine flu, ministry sources said Wednesday.
The plan will be included in the bill for the H1N1 flu vaccination compensation law when it is submitted to the extraordinary Diet session scheduled to convene later this month, they said.
Vaccinations against swine flu are expected to begin later this month, with priority given to medical workers, people with underlying medical conditions, and pregnant women.
While vaccinations are not mandatory, compensation should be provided for any inappropriate inoculations conducted by hospitals because they are being undertaken as a national project, a ministry official said.
Under the vaccination law, compensation would be provided for medical damage resulting from both vaccines and improper inoculations financed by official subsidies. For voluntary inoculations, however, compensation would only be provided for damage caused by the vaccines.