We handle vaccine-injury cases originating in all 50 states plus US territories:
There is an official Vaccine Injury Table associated with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), but it is no longer very useful in handling vaccine-injury claims.
The official table is available on the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) website and elsewhere, but it is of no significant value if you need to file a claim. Useful information about covered vaccines is provided on this website, making visits to the HHS table unnecessary.
However, for your enlightment if you care to know, we provide on this page an explanation of what the table is, how it came to be, and what happened to make it no longer helpful in processing claims.
When the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was created, Congress included in the law an official list of vaccines and related injuries to be used as a guide in determining the legitimacy of a vaccine-injury claim.
The table contained a list of vaccines that were covered by the Program, together with the kinds of injuries most likely to be related to each particular vaccine or combination of vaccines that were commonly being administered.
Also included in the table for each vaccine or vaccine combination was an expected time range following administration of the vaccine when symptoms of a vaccine injury were expected to appear.
Thus, if a vaccine or combination vaccination was administered and an injury listed for that vaccine in the table became apparent within the specified time frame, the injury was to be presumed to be caused by the vaccine or the vaccination.
Unfortunately, the U.S. Department of Health — now called the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) — opposed the NVICP during its creation, but Congress put HHS in charge of administering the program despite their opposition. That opened the door to a problem that Congress either did not anticipate, or didn't want to be bothered with after the law went into effect.
The original purpose of the Table was to simplify claims processing so claims could be filed, evaluated, acted upon, and funds disbursed to the injured party — all within a time limit of only 240 days ... or about eight months.
The defect in the law was a provision that authorized HHS to make changes in the table without congressional approval as new discoveries and information came forth that would make such alterations appropriate or necessary.
Because Congress created the table as part of the law, the U.S. Constitution requires congressional approval for any changes to the law. When Congress gave HHS the authority to change that part of the law without congressional action, they in effect transfered power to change the law to the Executive branch of government, thus violating the separation-of-powers provision in the Constitution.
After the law went into effect, HHS officials proceeded to make changes in the vaccine table without further approval from Congress. When appeals were filed with the Supreme Court to have that authorization overruled because it was unconstitutional (our firm was involved in that litigation), the Court, in a split decision, declined to address the issue, mainly because it would invalidate the entire law, and render the vaccine-injury program useless.
This would remove the liability protection provided to vaccine manufacturers, and would likely mean the end of available vaccines, and the court didn't want to be involved in creating that risk for society, even though some of the judges were quite aware of the difficulty they were creating.
After the law had been in effect for a relatively short time, it became clear that HHS had no real interest in following Congress' intent in the law.
Instead of the procedure for handling claims being a fast, simple, non-bureaucratic operation, it became quite the opposite.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) was brought into the process, and DOJ lawyers were given the responsibility of making sure no false or questionable claims would be compensated.
Instead of a presumption of cause as Congress intended, the entire procedure became a very confrontational, litigious process with claims taking sometimes 8 or 10 years to reach completion — instead of months short of just one year.
Consequently, vaccines are covered if they appear in the table, but the burden of proof weighs heavily on the petitioner, which means you are now placed under the additional burden of finding legal counsel to help in your claim, in addition to the difficulties brought on by the vaccine injury itself.
As the nation's most experienced vaccine-injury law firm, we are here to help you obtain the relief the law provides, despite the obstacles erected by a government agency. We're easy to connect with. Just give us a call at (307) 433−8864, or email us at VaccineLaw@RichardGage.net.
Do not delay.
The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has very strict filing deadlines that must be met. If you miss a deadline, you also lose your right to seek compensation for your injury.