B.C. man is first Canadian to receive COVID-19 vaccine compensation.
QUICK FACTS:
- Ross Wightman was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome after receiving the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in April of 2021.
- Wightman’s diagnosis led to injury compensation from the Canada Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP).
- The injured man is one of an estimated 400 who have filed claims with VISP, beginning in June of 2021.
- However, Wightman is one of less than five in Canada who were approved to receive compensation for vaccine-related injuries, according to VISP website
- Wightman is now recovering at home after 67 days in the hospital. “I had quite a few ups and downs really early,” he said.
WIGHTMAN’S ILLNESS PROGRESSION:
- Guillain-Barré Syndrome left Wightman partially paralyzed after a single dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine last spring.
- The injured man said his symptoms started with severe back pain 10 days after his shot which eventually caused him to make several emergency room trips.
- He was eventually admitted on a Saturday when he reported facial tingling.
- “By Tuesday, I had full facial paralysis. I could blink but I couldn’t smile or show my teeth at all, and had paralysis from the waist down as well,” Wightman said.
BACKGROUND:
- VISP told reporters that they will update the number of claims of vaccine injury that have been approved “anytime now,” but updated data has yet to be provided since last November.
- The maximum lump sum that a person can receive from VISP is $284,000, and though Wightman did not disclose his exact payout, he did say that his compensation was “kind of somewhere in the middle of what’s being offered.”
