The Canadian Public Health Agency (PHAC) will take over the troubled Vaccine Injury Assistance Program (VISP) after a global news survey reveals serious flaws in its operations and management practices.
PHAC began a compliance audit with Oxaro Inc., an Ottawa consulting company that was contracted by the federal government to administer the program in late July.
Following the broadcast and publication of the Global News Survey of the three-part investigation into VISP in July, it uncovers allegations and complaints by applicants and former workers regarding defective delivery of oxalo over the past four years, despite a taxpayer dollar of $54 million.
Guillaume Bertrand, Minister of Health, Minister of Health, Marjorie Michel, confirmed that the funding agreement with Oxaro will end on March 31, 2026 and that the government will transfer VISP management to PHAC.
“This is also part of our commitment to significantly reduce our reliance on external consultants, improving the ability of public services to hire expertise within the company,” Bertrand said.
“We'll publish details on how the program will be delivered when PHAC is available.”
Oxaro did not respond to email requests from Global News for comments prior to publication.
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However, on Thursday afternoon, a visp spokesman told Globally that he was only identified as “case escalation manager William.” “There are no comments at this time.”
The VISP was announced in 2020 by the liberal government to provide financial support to those who were seriously and permanently injured when they embarked on a Covid-19 vaccination campaign. The following year, I decided to outsource the management.
A five-month global news survey that urged protests revealed:
Oxalo had received $50 million from taxpayers. $33.7 million was spent on administrative costs, and the injured Canadian received $16.9 million. Health Canada figures released last week show that the company currently receives $54.1 million, spending $36.3 million on administrative costs, and only $18.1 million paid to injured Canadian Anfak and Oxalo, and underestimating the number of injuries claims Visp can get. Over 3,317 applications have been submitted – of which over 1,738 are awaiting decisions regarding their claimed injured applicants, they face unreachable VISP case manager revolving doors and say they need an online funding campaign to survive
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Some VISP applicants and former staff members said Oxaro was not equipped to fully provide the program's mission to provide “timely and fair” support, raising questions as to why the Canadian Public Health Agency (PHAC) chose this company over other companies, but internal documents suggested a poorly planned plan at the time of launch.
Global News has obtained internal government documents from the start that suggested inadequate plans, as both PHAC and Oxaro underestimated the number of applications the program gets.
In response to revelation by Global News, four opposition Conservative lawmakers called for an investigation into the VISP Commons Committee, and the pivotal nonprofit health foundation said the program requires an urgent overhaul.
PHAC then agreed to promote auditing of the company and asked its agent staff to recommend new ways of serving Canadians.
“PHAC is currently accelerating the management of Oxalo and Oxalo's vaccine injury support programs, and agents will provide recommendations on alternative delivery models for the program.”
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