AJS · 3y

"People Harmed by Coronavirus Vaccines Will Have Little Recourse" https://www.wsj.com/articles/people-harmed-by-coronavirus-vaccines-will-have-little-recourse-11602432000 "Any payouts for injuries will come from a less-generous program than in years past"

[The U.S. government paid out $4.4 billion over more than 30 years covering injuries relating to a host of vaccines—from flu to polio—but payouts for potential injuries from Covid-19 vaccines will be covered by a far less-generous program.

Covid-19 vaccine injuries will be covered under a program known as the "countermeasures injury" compensation fund, which was set up in 2010 to cover harm resulting from vaccines for a flu pandemic, or drugs to treat an anthrax or Ebola outbreak, for example.

This year, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said the countermeasures fund should also cover injuries from Covid-19 vaccines, giving drug companies immunity from potential liability lawsuits.

But the fund isn't expected to offer much of a remedy to the public, according to lawyers and vaccine experts. Since it began processing claims, the fund has paid out $6 million on 29 claims, averaging $207,000 per person, compared with $585,000 on average per person for an older vaccine injury fund.

Behind the gap: The new fund has a tougher threshold for proving a relationship between an injury and the vaccine, experts say. The newer fund has a shorter statute of limitations, no avenue for appeals and doesn't pay damages for pain or suffering like the older vaccine program does.

"The recourse for the people that get it initially is not going to be great" if they are harmed by any Covid-19 vaccines, said Renée Gentry, director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic at George Washington University Law School. "The countermeasures compensation program is effectively a right to file and lose."]

[The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program generally shields manufacturers of vaccines from product-liability lawsuits over harm suffered after receiving vaccines recommended for routine use in children or pregnant women. More recently, conditions linked to the flu vaccine have also been covered. The program is funded by a 75-cent excise tax paid by drug companies on each vaccine administered.]

[HHS can negotiate settlements of some claims, while a special court, known among lawyers as the "vaccine court," can order payouts for claims that HHS contests.

Dorothy Smith, of Odessa, Texas, took her case to vaccine court in 2018 after she developed a condition known as transverse myelitis—an autoimmune response to an infection that in severe cases can lead to paralysis. Ms. Smith is seeking $1.5 million to cover future medical costs.

Ms. Smith, 74, developed the condition about three weeks after the flu vaccine and was soon unable to walk, according to the complaint she filed with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. A former church worker, she now is using a wheelchair, said David Calvillo, her Houston lawyer.

Her case is awaiting a final hearing or ruling from vaccine court, Mr. Calvillo said.

Transverse myelitis has been a suspected condition in testing of the AstraZeneca AZN 1.16% /Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, factoring into halts of large clinical trials of the shot.]

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