The government plans to basically accept a court proposal for the state to pay ¥500,000 to each asymptomatic hepatitis B virus carrier believed to have been infected during nationwide group vaccinations, four Cabinet ministers said Wednesday.
"We agreed to faithfully consider the court proposal," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Ritsuo Hosokawa told reporters after his meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku, national policy minister Koichiro Gemba and Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda.
The Sapporo District Court made the proposal Tuesday during court-mediated settlement negotiations between the state and five plaintiffs from Hokkaido. Whether to cover asymptomatic carriers was the most controversial point of the settlement package.