The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 established the Vaccine Injury Court/ Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). The Vaccine Court officially started on October 1, 1988.  At that time, only the MMR, DTP and polio were given. Public vaccination rates averaged 50-60%. Fast forward 25 years later, the vaccination schedule has nearly tripled, link, and public vaccination rates are near 90%. 

There were so many lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers in the 1980’s that the manufactures threatened to withdraw making vaccines. (Comforting). Congress passed a bill that made manufactures free from legal liability. For example, if they made a vaccine that was not as safe as they could have, it no longer mattered, there was no recourse, no action the public could take against them. Instead harmed citizens can now file a claim with the National Vaccine Injury Court, known formally as the United States Court of Federal Claims special masters.

Purpose of VICP
Mary Holland describes four tenets of the 1986 Vaccine Act. “

1. “to create the infrastructure for a national immunization program;
2. to insulate the industry and medical profession from liability;
3. to establish a program to compensate the injured;
4. to promote safer vaccines.” ( Moskowitz, 133)

The success of items 1 and 2 have been achieved. The theoretical tenets of 3 & 4 -defined more than 25 years ago- could not be more different from its functional reality today.  In regards to item 3, Congress wanted “to establish a no-fault program under which awards can be made to the vaccine-injured quickly, easily and with certainty and generosity.” However, some parents have referred to the proceedings as an all out war and a very hostile environment, taking years to adjudicate. Nearly 50% of cases take over 5 years. Not quite the quick and painless proceedings it was created to be. In terms of item 4, one only has to look at the history of the bloated and growing vaccine program, the slow transition from DTP to DTaP, the mega doses, the death rates in safety trials compared to the average death rates, the use of mercury in the 90’s that exceeded regulatory levels, and CDC’s refusal to notice the increasing levels of alarms raised by top aluminum and adjuvant scientists of increase levels of aluminum (also see autism studies) in cumulative vaccines. 

VICP, conflict of interest, lack of due process, no jury, 
If your child is injured from a vaccine, and you decide to file a claim, you are in reality suing the Federal Government. This means the opposing side will be represented by a lawyer from the U.S. Department of Justice. The Vaccine Court is a “special court” that does NOT follow “due process”. There is no public jury. No Rules of Discovery, Evidence and Civil Procedure. In fact, there is only a special-master, appointed by the court, who listens and makes the final decision on your case.  In reality, your adjudicator is an “appointed government attorney”. Conflict of interest? 

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• You can NOT sue vaccine manufactures, instead you have to file a petition with the Court of Federal Claims.
• Conflicts of interest. You are suing the federal government, yet the adjudicator of the proceeding, known as “special master”, is appointed by the federal government.
• Statues of Limitations is 3 years. Meaning at onset of symptoms, you have only three years to file a claim before you lose the right.  
• There is no due process and no jury. The government appointed “special master” listens and decides.
• Rules of Discovery, Evidence and Civil Procedure do NOT apply.
• There are only pre-approved injuries you can claim as a vaccine injury, known as “Vaccine Injury Table”. The injuries are often pre-determined by the manufactures before they even conduct the original safety trials. (Sounds slightly unscientific.)
• In 1995, with increasing levels of claims, they amended the 1986 Act, by revising the “pre-approved” vaccine injuries, making it more difficult to win a case. 
• 50 percent of the cases take over five years to adjudicate. 
• 2017, biggest year in claim compensation, awarding over $282 million.
• VICP only awards $250,000.00 max for death (much lower than other standards.)
• VICP max award for pain and suffering is $250,000.00
• The Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP), is a proceeding in which the rulings of 3 cases would also determine 5,000 other claims. These three cases lost, and as a result, the 5000 cases were denied.
  • However, one of the cases that would have been used, Hannah Poling Case, was quickly and quietly settled for $20million with a silence and gag order. It showed that kids with a pre-existing mitochondria dysfunction could be vulnerable to vaccine injury, and in Hanna’s case, led to autism. (Years later, John Hopkins expert Dr. Kelley, would say 20-40% of all autism cases show mitochondria dysfunction.)
  • Also, expert testimony, Dr. Zimmerman, whose opinion they used to deny 1 of the 3 cases, later reversed his opinion. But too late for the 5000 cases, now used to deny all autism cases.
  • Over 86 cases in which the child has autism have been compensated. However, the term autism, was never used. 

Conditions for Winning a Case

If petitioners meet the exact requirements set forth, they can be compensated without litigation. These requirements mean that a condition, must already be set forth on the Vaccine Injury Table, and must occur within 30 days of vaccination, although most accepted timeframes are hours and days. Take note that over 86 percent of the most common vaccine injuries reported, have never been studied. Meaning 86 percent of cases, are not identified by the Vaccine Injury Table, and automatically go to step 2, litigation. 

By 2015, going to step 2 occurred for 95% of claims filed. Meaning the federal government challenged almost every vaccine case brought forward.  For injuries not listed, petitioners have to prove on a “more likely than not” standard. A petitioners burden of proof  has to “establish 1) a medical theory causally connecting the vaccination and injury; 2) a logical sequence of cause and effect showing that the vaccine was the reason for the injury; and 3) a proximate temporal relationship between the vaccination and the injury.” ( Moskowitz, 134) It is incredibly difficult to establish a “medical theory” when the majority of vaccine injuries are not being studied.  The Hanna Polling case, awarded 25 million for regressive autism caused by vaccines, had a father who was a John Hopkins doctor/researcher and established the mitochondria dysfunction theory with Dr. Zimmerman and other top scientists. It’s not everyday a vaccine injured parent has those exact resources to develop medical theories.  (However, aluminum experts are speaking up on the neurotoxicity and plausibility of aluminums role in vaccine injury.) 

Between Oct 1988 and 2015, and only 6.4% of total claims filed received compensation.  In that time, over 8% of filed petitions were death claims.