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Childhood Vaccinations: Compensation For Rare But Serious Injuries
By: Mindy Michaels Roth
In the first two years of life, a child I the United States should
receive ten vaccinations/immunizations against eight major diseases:
Polio, Measles, Mumps, Rubella (German Measles), Pertussis (Whooping
Cough), Diphtheria, Tetanus, and Haemophilus. One of the goals of National
Healthcare Reform is to increase the rate of childhood immunizations by
providing vaccines for children at no cost.
Although the majority of children receive these vaccinations without
any complications or with only mild reactions, a small percentage of
children suffer from severe reactions that result in permanent damage
including seizure disorders, mental retardation, delayed physical
development, behavioral disorders and death. Because the actual number of
serious adverse vaccine reactions is small, routine vaccinations should be
provided to children to prevent epidemics of the crippling and disabling
diseases which once occurred. However, it is important that individuals be
aware that vaccine-related injuries do occur and that assistance is
available.
Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act
of 1986 in order to establish a program through which compensation may be
paid on behalf of individuals who have been permanently injured or have
died as a result of being given a childhood vaccine. The program is a
no-fault system, under which eligibility for compensation is determined in
most cases according to a table of vaccines, time frames and reactions.
The vaccine injury program is intended as an alternative to civil
litigation.
In the July 4, 1994 edition of the American Medical News, the AMA
reported that it will continue to support the Act and has been called upon
to study, among other issues, whether to endorse 18 Proposed Standards for
Pediatric Immunization Practice recommended by the National Vaccine
Advisory Committee. Although there were initial concerns about delays in
the processing of submitted claims and the payment of adjudicated claims
for vaccinations prior to 1988, the AMA report indicates that the programs
budgetary problems relating to pre-1988 vaccine claims have been resolved.
As of February 1994, more than 1,000 claims totaling $374.4 million had
been awarded through the Act, and the number of civil lawsuits against
vaccine manufacturers has fallen to fewer than 20 a year from a peak of
255 lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, the frequency of injuries to
vaccinated children, while small, has not been reduced.
In order for parents to receive assistance in the event of an adverse
vaccine reaction, Stern Steiger Croland has developed a special department
for handling vaccine-related injury cases under the Act.
©Stern Steiger Croland, P.A.: The Newsletter, Vol. 1, No.
2, (Fall 1994).
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