Conservative MP Dean Allison speaks during a press conference on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on June 4, 2026, to announce an inquiry into COVID-19 vaccine injuries. The Canadian Press/Sean Kilpatrick
Several Conservative MPs are pressing the federal government to detail the actions it will take to assist Canadians injured by COVID-19 vaccines.
“Thousands, across many communities, have come to me over the years, expressing concern over how the government has treated them and those they know and love,” Conservative MP Lianne Rood said during Question Period on Oct. 23.
“Will the Liberals finally fulfill the promise they made to Canadians injured by the vaccines that they told them to take?” she asked.
Liberal MP and Parliament Secretary to the Minister of Health Maggie Chi said that while vaccines “save lives,” there have also been Canadians negatively impacted by them. She said Ottawa has launched a program to financially compensate those injured by vaccines, and will continue working to “make sure people are supported from any vaccine injuries.”
The Vaccine Injury Support program (VISP) was launched in 2021 to provide financial compensation for individuals injured by COVID-19 vaccines. The federal government assumed control of the program in April, rebranding it as the Vaccine Impact Assistance Program (VIAP) following considerable public criticism of the initiative.
A 2025 investigation by Global News found that $33.7 million of the $50.6 million that the third-party administrator received for VISP had been spent on administrative costs alone. The Epoch Times also heard from Canadians in 2024 who said they dealt with lengthy wait times, poor communication with staff, and inadequate or non-existent compensation for their injuries.
Health Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada told The Epoch Times in a statement in September that VIAP “draws on lessons learned from the previous VISP, as well as best practices from similar programs administered by Quebec and G7 partners.”
Conservative MP Dean Allison told Parliament that Ottawa distributed approximately $150 million in 1989 for the tainted blood scandal, an incident that resulted in 1,250 individuals contracting HIV through blood transfusions or blood products. He pointed out that “compensation remains limited” following roughly 12,000 serious adverse reactions to COVID-19 vaccines.
Allison said the previous iteration of the vaccine compensation program had been an “unmitigated disaster,” and questioned what the Liberal government would do to ensure the vaccine-injured received “meaningful financial support.”
Chi said the government will “always work to ensure that Canadians can make evidence-informed choices about their health.” She said the government had heard the “frustrations” Canadians had with the previous iteration of the vaccine support program, and would continue to work “collaboratively to make sure the program works.”
Allison chaired a parliamentary inquiry into vaccine injuries in September, called the Allison Inquiry, which heard from some 50 witnesses selected from more than 1,400 people who applied to testify.
Allison recently told The Epoch Times in an interview that he was working on having additional town halls on vaccine injuries held across Canada. Allison also said the government needs to provide additional funding to the VIAP.
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