HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he will work with Attorney General Pam Bondi to reform the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which he referred to as “a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption.”
The VICP was set up in 1988 as part of a law that shielded vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits from individuals who suffer a severe side effect after a shot. Petitions are heard by Special Masters. If a petition is granted, compensation is paid through a trust fund made possible through a 75 cent-surcharge placed on every shot.
The program has so far paid out $5.4B to 12,000 petitioners, according to the secretary.
“The VICP has devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption as government lawyers and the Special Masters who serve as Vaccine Court judges prioritize the solvency of the HHS Trust Fund, over their duty to compensate victims,” RFK Jr. wrote in a post on X.
He further argued that the defendants — HHS and the federal government — are favored when petitions are considered.
“There is no discovery, and the rules of evidence do not apply. The government lawyers do not allow children’s attorneys access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a taxpayer-funded CDC surveillance system that houses the best data on vaccine injuries,” RFK Jr. stated.
“The VICP routinely dismisses meritorious cases outright or drags them out for years. Instead of ‘quickly and fairly’ awarding compensation, Special Masters dismiss over half of the cases.”
Major vaccine makers: Merck (NYSE:MRK), GSK (NYSE:GSK), Pfizer (NYSE:PFE), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Sanofi (NASDAQ:SNY), and Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX).
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