The federal government has committed $36.4 million to a program designed to support people seriously injured or the families of those killed by vaccines, starting in late 2020.

The program was announced shortly after COVID-19 shots first became available to the public and provides financial compensation to people who were harmed by vaccines approved by Health Canada, ctvnews.ca reports.

The government has committed $75 million over the first five years of the program. To date, private firm OXARO has received $56.2 million from Ottawa to implement the program and pay out valid claims from outside Quebec.

As of December, the firm has paid out $11.2 million in compensation. More than 105 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered since December 14, 2020, and 0.01% of them have resulted in serious adverse events, Health Canada data shows.

Of the 488 deaths reported following COVID-19 vaccination, four were directly related to the shot, Health Canada said in its latest report.

Anastasia Chupina