Canadians can soon get compensated for vaccine injuries

Canadians waiting in line for their vaccine injury claim to be processed hopefully won't have to wait much longer.

Minister of Health Marjorie Michel announced that the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will take over administering the Vaccine Impact Assistance Program (VIAP) on April 1, 2026. It was previously delivered by a third-party administrator, Oxaro, and known as the Vaccine Injury Support Program.

People who have experienced "serious and permanent injury" from a Health Canada-authorized vaccine administered in Canada on or after Dec. 8, 2020, are eligible to submit a claim for compensation.

The program began accepting claims after the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine in Canada in June 2021.

PHAC said it will work to address the existing backlog of applications while "improving the consistency and transparency of the claims process."

"We recognize that people who apply to this program are going through a difficult time. That's why the Government of Canada is taking meaningful steps — via the new Vaccine Impact Assistance Program — to make the program more supportive," Michel said in a statement.

The federal government contracted Oxaro to administer the Vaccine Injury Support Program with an initial budget of $50 million over five years. That agreement ended on March 31, 2026.

Canadians who have submitted claims to the former program don’t have to worry — it will be automatically transferred to the VIAP.

According to PHAC, the new program will introduce updated digital services for applicants in the coming months, including a secure online client portal.

Once that portal is available, you'll be able to:

• Check the status of their application in real time
• View documents and information related to their file
• Update certain contact or personal information directly
• Upload key documents for their file securely

There were over 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Canada between December 2020 and 2023.

According to Health Canada data, adverse effects were extremely rare, with 58,712 adverse events reported during that time — that's 0.056 per cent of all doses given. Of those, 11,702 were considered serious, representing 0.011 per cent of all doses administered.

For more information on the new Vaccine Impact Assistance Program, check out PHAC’s site.