Are vaccine injury claims rare, or undercounted? The ACC data debate

Summarised by Centrist

ACC has received 4,495 COVID vaccine injury claims since February 2021. Of those, 1,779 were accepted and 2,693 declined. Six accepted claims involved fatalities. Total compensation paid to date is just under $17 million.

The most commonly accepted injuries were allergic reactions, sprains, cardiac injuries and anaphylaxis. About 60 per cent of lodged claims were declined, largely on the basis of “no injury” or “no causal link.”

ACC operates on a no-fault basis, but claims must still meet treatment injury criteria. The agency says its data cannot be used as a direct measure of harm rates and cautions against drawing conclusions about prevalence from accepted claim numbers alone.

Yet the figures may not capture the full picture.

ACC data shows thousands of Covid vaccine injury claims and six accepted deaths

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Vaccine injury advocate Lynda Wharton argues the ACC totals understate the real impact.

She points to more than 20,500 serious adverse event reports filed with Medsafe by November 2024.

These reports include events involving hospitalisation or potentially permanent harm.

Wharton says many people struggled to find doctors willing to formally lodge ACC treatment injury claims, potentially limiting access to compensation.

ACC data also shows hundreds of claims were filed months after vaccination. That lag may reflect delayed onset symptoms. It may also point to delays in recognition, diagnosis or willingness to engage the system.

Hear more over on Reality Check Radio

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