PHAC to take over vaccine injury program after Global News investigation

The Public Health Agency of Canada will take over the troubled Vaccine Injury Support Program, following the publication of a Global News investigation.

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will take over the troubled Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP), after a Global News investigation revealed serious flaws in its operation and administration practises.

PHAC launched a compliance audit into Oxaro Inc., the Ottawa consulting firm contracted by the federal government to administer the program, in late July.

It came following the broadcast and publication of a three-part investigation Global News investigation into VISP in July, which revealed allegations and complaints by applicants and former workers about Oxaro’s flawed delivery over the past four years, despite $54 million in taxpayer dollars going to the program.

On Wednesday, Guillaume Bertrand, director of communications for Health Minister Marjorie Michel, confirmed that a funding agreement with Oxaro will end on March 31, 2026, and the government will then transition the administration of VISP to PHAC.

“This is also part of our commitment to significantly reducing reliance on external consultants, while improving the capacity of the public service to hire expertise in-house,” Bertrand said.

“We will publicly share further details on how the program will be delivered under PHAC when they become available.”

Oxaro did not respond to an emailed request from Global News for comment before publication.

VISP was announced by the Liberal government in 2020 to provide financial support to anyone who is seriously and permanently injured as it embarked on the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, the largest such effort in the country’s history. It decided to outsource its administration the following year.