2023-04-21 07:44:47
THE HAGUE (ANP) – A “small group” of people who became ill after being vaccinated against swine flu in 2009 will receive money from the State, state secretary Maarten van Ooijen of Public Health reports. After the vaccination, they developed narcolepsy, a disease in which the patient often falls asleep unexpectedly during the day. This mainly concerns young children who developed serious neurological complaints and became disabled as a result.
It involves vaccination with Pandemrix or Focetria. At the end of 2014, the State and the vaccine manufacturers were formally held liable for the development of narcolepsy in 23 children who were vaccinated in 2009 with one of the two drugs. The State is accused of giving the advice to have young children vaccinated and of not informing people enough about possible side effects. Usually producers are themselves liable for damage that may have been caused by their product. But for Pandemrix, the State took over that responsibility. Some of the 23 patients are now being compensated.
The complaints arose within thirteen months after the vaccination, but whether the vaccination was also the cause of the condition has not been determined. According to experts who advised the ministry, a causal relationship is “unlikely, but not completely excluded”. The State therefore admits no liability.
Severely limited
The cabinet nevertheless reaches a settlement with the group, “because of the irreversibility of the exceptionally serious neurological complaints in these young children”. The children are severely limited by the condition “in all areas of life”, the ministry says. The majority are not expected to be able to live on their own, they need more guidance at school or go to special schools. They also have to do adapted work in the future.
The swine flu swept the world in 2009. The flu could be deadly. In the Netherlands, about 5 million people were vaccinated against the virus with Pandemrix or Focetria, 600,000 of whom were children aged six months to four years. From 2010, the number of children in Europe who were diagnosed with narcolepsy suddenly increased.
Also benefits in other countries
According to Van Ooijen, the decision to accommodate the children of that time also plays a role in the fact that benefits are also paid in other European countries to young narcolepsy patients who have been vaccinated with Pandemrix.
For privacy reasons, the ministry does not want to say exactly how much people are paid and what amount they receive.
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