‘Wrapped up like broken promises’: Fort St. John applicant raises concerns about new vaccine injury compensation program

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Fort St. John woman has raised concerns about the new vaccine program for people injured by the Covid-19 inoculation. 

On March 31st, Marjorie Michel, federal minister of health, announced the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) will begin administering the Vaccine Impact Assistance Program (VIAP) on April 1st, 2026. 

The new compensation program takes over from the Vaccine Injury Support Program (VISP) which was first announced in 2020 and managed by Oxaro. 

The VIAP program will provide support to people in Canada who have been assessed to have serious and permanent injuries as a result of taking a Health Canada-authorized vaccine. 

“We recognize that people who apply to this program are going through a difficult time. That’s why the Government of Canada is taking meaningful steps – via the new Vaccine Impact Assistance Program – to make the program more supportive,” Michel said. “Canadians can count on their government to be more efficient in delivering services that matter when they need it the most.”

VISP was previously criticized for lacking accountability and transparency. 

At the time, PHAC had told Energeticcity.ca it was reviewing the support offered: “PHAC recognizes the concerns raised regarding VISP and the audit underway will help inform our work to implement strategies that address some of the broader challenges noted as the VISP evolves.”

Michelle Worton, a resident of Fort St. John, told Energeticcity.ca: “It feels like they put a nice little bow on it and wrapped it up like broken promises. 

“I don’t really feel like we’re going to see much of a different program.” 

Worton, who used to own the Blooming Smiles dental practice in Fort St. John, launched a petition on August 22nd, 2025 to demand federal action for people injured by the Covid-19 vaccine. 

In December 2021, Worton reported neurological and autoimmune symptoms such as dysautonomia, which is a disorder of the nervous system that disrupts autonomic body processes such as blood pressure and heart rate. 

She says this happened after she received the Covid-19 vaccine. 

In April 2023, the former VISP program initially accepted Worton’s claim, but it was then rejected, even though she says she was told two-thirds of its medical panel agreed she deserves compensation.

Worton, who attended an information session on March 30th, feels there has been no acknowledgement or accountability of concerns raised about the previous program. 

“There was zero discussion whatsoever on any kind of rectification of what happened with the mismanagement,” she said. 

One of Worton’s concerns about the new program is the name. 

“By renaming the Vaccine Injury Support Program to the Vaccine Impact Assistance Program, they’ve essentially erased us,” she alleges. “These are serious, permanent injuries that are life- changing and they have rebranded it, taken out injury and put in impact and assistance versus support and so the very nature of the name they’ve chosen is concerning.” 

Rather than feeling supported by the government, Worton told Energeticcity.ca she feels abandoned. 

She said: “If the Government of Canada and the Public Health Agency of Canada want to do their due diligence, they will reconsider all of the claims that were submitted through this if we’re talking about fairness and transparency.” 

She feels that neither of these attributes were there VISP. 

Through CANrise19, a patient-led support group, Worton, a founding member, is in the process of drafting a letter for the PHAC to offer recommendations.

Worton said her previous claim, which is currently in the appeal process, will now be automatically transferred to VIAP.