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For Immediate Release:
Contact:
Mark Corallo/ Beth Frigola
February 13, 2002
(202)
225-5074
Lawmakers Seek Reforms in
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
Washington,
D.C. - A bipartisan group of lawmakers led
by Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan
Burton (R-IN) and Ranking Member Henry
Waxman (D-CA) today introduced legislation
to make the Vaccine Injury Compensation
Program more generous and compassionate.
During two days of hearings before the
Government Reform Committee, families of
injured children complained about long
delays, overly adversarial tactics employed
by government lawyers, and other
difficulties with the program.
The legislation introduced today would:
Increase the compensation for
vaccine-related deaths to $300,000;
Make the compensation for lost earnings more
generous;
Allow compensation for the costs of family
counseling and creating a guardianship;
Allow for the payment of interim attorneys
fees and costs while a case is under review;
Extend the statute of limitations for filing
a petition to six years; and
Establish a two-year window for families to
file a petition if they were previously
excluded from the program by the existing
two-year statute of limitations.
"Vaccine-related injuries are devastating
for families that have to deal with them,"
said Burton. "Congress intended this
program to be swift, compassionate and
generous. However, too many times, these
families are confronted by bureaucratic
indifference, long delays and overly
adversarial tactics. We heard testimony
from parents who fought for ten years to win
compensation for their children. That's not
acceptable. This bill won't fix every
problem that people have experienced, but
it's a good first step. We have bipartisan
support for this bill, and I hope we can get
it signed into law this year. I want to
thank Congressmen Waxman, Congressman
Weldon, and all of the other cosponsors who
helped put this bill together."
"The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has
been largely successful in stabilizing the
vaccine industry; in maintaining public
confidence in immunizations; and in
compensating people who have been injured by
vaccines. However, the system is not
perfect. This legislation would help to
improve the program and help to make sure
that it is as generous and easy as it can
be," said Waxman.
Immunizations are considered the most
important public health achievement of the
20th Century. Because of immunizations,
children are no longer disabled by polio,
suffer brain damage from measles, or die
from smallpox. However, immunizations are
not risk-free. In rare cases, they can
cause serious injuries.
Congress created the Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program in 1986 to compensate
families quickly and generously when vaccine
injuries occur. At the time, vaccine
manufacturers were facing numerous vaccine
injury lawsuits and were threatening to
leave the market. Creation of the VICP
helped keep manufacturers in the market and
stabilize vaccine supply. Under the
program, vaccine makers are partially
shielded from liability for vaccine-related
injuries. An excise tax is charged with
each dose of vaccine. The proceeds go into
a Federal fund used to compensate victims.
Joining Burton and Waxman as original
cosponsors of the bill are:
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)
Rep. Ben Gilman (R-NY)
Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA)
Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (R-TN)
Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX)
Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)
The legislation expands on a set of reforms
proposed by the Advisory Commission on
Childhood Vaccines in 1999. It also
addresses problems identified by parents of
injured children who testified at two
Government Reform Committee hearings last
fall.
Posted courtesy of Dr.
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and Tetrahedron
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