Less than 1% of vaccine victims eligible for government relief
The federal government has determined that less than 1% of vaccine victims are eligible to be compensated for their injuries, according to recent figures.
Since vaccine makers are not liable for the injuries their products cause, according to a 1986 law, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administers the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). The stated purpose of the CICP is to provide financial relief to Americans who are injured by vaccines or other drugs taken during a public health emergency. Since the CICP began accepting claims in 2009, there have been 14,126 claims as of December 1, 2024 — less than 500 of which are not COVID-related. This means that claims for COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries were 27 times higher than all claims submitted in the first 11 years of the program.
However, the HRSA has only come to a decision in 30% of the claims in the last 15 years. The other seventy percent of claims are still under review or have not even reached the review stage. Of those that were adjudicated, only 105 — less than 1% — were deemed eligible for compensation, and only 50 of those have been compensated.
In 15 years, the HRSA has paid victims roughly $6.5 million, most of which went to victims of the H1N1 (swine flu) vaccine. Victims of the COVID-19 vaccines have only received a total of $419,000, which was distributed among 14 claimants.
“At the current pace, it will take decades for the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program — which prior to 2020 had decided fewer than 500 cases in its entire history — to sort through them all,” Reuters reported last year.
HRSA blames ‘limited resources’
According to a report last week from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the most common reason claimants are denied is not for insufficient evidence but for “missing the filing deadline.” As for why it has only made decisions on a third of applications, the HRSA blames the large influx of COVID-19 claims and limited resources. The HHS agency claims to be grappling with a staffing shortage, outdated systems, and “limited medical and scientific evidence” about COVID-19 countermeasures.
The CICP’s $7 million annual budget was increased to $10 million for fiscal year 2025. The HRSA plans to increase its staff of 42 full-time employees to 47.
