National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
The Office of Special Masters of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, popularly known as "vaccine court", administers a no-fault system for litigating vaccine injury claims. These claims against vaccine manufacturers cannot normally be filed in state or federal civil courts, but instead must be heard in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, sitting without a jury.
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP or NVICP) was established by the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), passed by the United States Congress in response to a threat to the vaccine supply due to a 1980s scare over the DPT vaccine. Despite the belief of most public health officials that claims of side effects were unfounded, large jury awards had been given to some plaintiffs, most DPT vaccine makers had ceased production, and officials feared the loss of herd immunity.[1]
Between its inception in 1986 and May 2023, it has awarded a total of $4.6 billion, with the average award amount between 2006 and 2020 being $450,000, and the award rate (which varies by vaccine) being 1.2 awards per million doses administered. The Health Resources and Services Administration reported in July 2022 that "approximately 60 percent of all compensation awarded by the VICP comes as result of a negotiated settlement between the parties in which HHS has not concluded, based upon review of the evidence, that the alleged vaccine(s) caused the alleged injury".[2] Cases are settled to minimize the risk of loss for both parties, to minimize the time and expense of litigation, and to resolve petitions quickly.[2]
Autism claims[edit]
More than 5,300 petitions alleging autism caused by vaccines have been filed in the vaccine court. In 2002, the court instituted the Omnibus Autism Proceeding in which plaintiffs were allowed to proceed with the three cases they considered to be the strongest before a panel of special masters. In each of the cases, the panel found that the plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate a causal effect between the MMR vaccine and autism.[11] Following this determination, the vaccine court has routinely dismissed such suits, finding no causal effect between the MMR vaccine and autism.[12]
Many studies have failed to conclude that there is a causal link between autism spectrum disorders and vaccines,[13] and the current scientific consensus is that routine childhood vaccines are not linked to the development of autism.
Several claimants have attempted to bypass the VICP process with claims that thimerosal in vaccines had caused autism, but these were ultimately not successful. They have demanded medical monitoring for vaccinated children who do not show signs of autism and have filed class-action suits on behalf of parents.[1] In March 2006, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that plaintiffs suing three manufacturers of thimerosal could bypass the vaccine court and litigate in either state or federal court using the ordinary channels for recovery in tort.[14] This was the first instance where a federal appeals court has held that a suit of this nature may bypass the vaccine court. The argument was that thimerosal is a preservative, not a vaccine, so it does not fall under the provisions of the vaccine act.[15] The claims that vaccines (or thimerosal in vaccines) caused autism eventually had to be filed in the vaccine court as part of the Omnibus Autism Proceeding.
The scientific consensus, developed from substantial medical and scientific research, states that there is no evidence supporting these claims, and the rate of autism continues to climb despite elimination of thimerosal from most routine early childhood vaccines.[16][17][13][18] Major scientific and medical bodies such as the Institute of Medicine[18] and World Health Organization,[19][20] as well as governmental agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration[21] and the CDC[22] reject any role for thimerosal in autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders.[1]
Attorneys fees and costs[edit]
Self representation is permitted, although the NVICP also pays attorneys fees out of the fund, separate from any compensation given to the petitioner.[24] This is "to ensure that vaccine claimants have readily available a competent bar to prosecute their claims".[25]
Homeland Security Act[edit]
The Homeland Security Act of 2002 provides another exception to the exclusive jurisdiction of the vaccine court. If smallpox vaccine were to be widely administered by public health authorities in response to a terrorist or other biological warfare attack, persons administering or producing the vaccine would be deemed federal employees and claims would be subject to the Federal Tort Claims Act, in which case claimants would sue the U.S. Government in the U.S. district courts, and would have the burden of proving the defendants' negligence, a much more difficult standard.[26]