The Ombudsman received several complaints concerning the length of time taken by the Ministry of Health (MZ) to process applications for compensation for damage caused by the vaccination against Covid-19. After receiving clarifications from the MZ, the Ombudsman noted that the processing of the complainants' applications at the MZ took too long, as it took at least a year for all of them to even be processed. The Ombudsman therefore warned the MZ that such situations should not occur. He also expressed the expectation that the MZ would do everything possible to ensure that applications for compensation for damage caused by the vaccination against Covid-19 would from now on be processed smoothly and within the expected timeframes. The Ombudsman found the complaints to be well-founded, as the MZ had breached the principle of good administration. 

* * *

Several complainants have applied to the Ministry of Health (MZ) for compensation for problems allegedly caused by the Covid-19 vaccination. As they have not received a decision on their applications after more than a year passed since they submitted their applications, nor information on what was happening to their applications despite repeated requests to the MZ, the complainants have contacted the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman asked the MZ for clarifications and received a description of the procedure for processing each application. The application for compensation is first referred to the Commission for the Establishment of Causal Links (the Commission) for an expert opinion. Based on an expert opinion, assessing that the alleged damage to health is a serious adverse event and that there is a causal link between the vaccination and the alleged damage to health, the administrative authority will ask for an opinion from the Disability Commission of the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute of Slovenia on whether the damage to health is manifested by a serious and permanent impairment of vital functions, and will then issue a decision either granting the right to compensation or rejecting the claim. Based on the expert opinion, which concludes that the alleged damage to health is not a serious adverse event or that there is no causal link, the administrative authority submits the expert opinion to the party for comments and, after considering the comments, either continues the procedure or issues a decision rejecting the claim. The MZ also states that, under Article 53d of the Communicable Diseases Act, the individual authorities have three months to prepare each of the above-mentioned opinions and 30 days to issue an administrative decision. The MZ also stated that 142 applications for compensation for health damage following vaccination against Covid-19 had been submitted to the administrative authority between 30 December 2021 and 29 March 2023.

Concerning the complainants' cases, the Ombudsman found, based on the MZ's explanation in the specific cases, that the complainants' claim regarding the MZ’s unresponsiveness is true. Moreover, the Ombudsman also found that the complainants' applications had not even been considered by the first of the commissions in the above-mentioned procedure.

The Ombudsman therefore assessed the complaints as well-founded. He found that the MZ had violated the principle of good administration by not even starting to process applications for more than a year. In this respect, the Ombudsman informed the MZ that, based on all the documentation submitted and the explanations provided by the MZ, he considers that the processing of the complainants’ applications at the MZ took too long, as in the case of all the complainants at least a year passed before the applications were even processed. The Ombudsman constantly reminds those responsible of the need to ensure that decisions are taken within the legal time limits. The Ombudsman therefore warned the MZ that such situations should not occur. He also expressed his expectation that the MZ would do everything possible to ensure that applications for compensation for damage caused by the vaccinations against Covid-19 would now be processed smoothly and within the expected timeframes.

The MZ responded to the Ombudsman's above-mentioned suggestion by explaining that they had sent the applicants (complainants) a Notice on the progress of the proceedings or a request to complete their applications and informed us about the stage of their proceedings. The Ombudsman assessed that although the proceedings were ongoing, they were unfortunately very slow (too slow) and he would continue to monitor the processing of applications. 9.4-19/2023, 9.4-21/2023, 9.4-39/2023