Georgia Coalition for Vaccine Choice

Preserving the rights of Georgians to vaccinate themselves and their children as they choose

Updates


Vaccine Injury

$4,182,078,646.00

The total amount paid out through V.I.C.P. as of 08.01.19

The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury petitions.
It was created in the 1980s, after lawsuits against vaccine companies and health care providers threatened to cause vaccine shortages and reduce U.S. vaccination rates, which could have caused a resurgence of vaccine preventable diseases.
Any individual, of any age, who received a covered vaccine and believes he or she was injured as a result, can file a petition. Parents, legal guardians and legal representatives can file on behalf of children, disabled adults, and individuals who are deceased.

For more information or to file a claim, visit the HRSA site here.


Make Vaccine Manufactures Liable Again

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act 1986
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) of 1986 (42 U.S.C. §§ 300aa-1 to 300aa-34) was signed into law by United States President Ronald Reagan as part of a larger health bill on Nov 14, 1986. NCVIA's purpose was to eliminate the potential financial liability of vaccine manufacturers due to vaccine injury claims in order to ensure a stable market supply of vaccines, and to provide cost-effective arbitration for vaccine injury claims. Under the NCVIA, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) was created to provide a federal no-fault system for compensating vaccine-related injuries or death by establishing a claim procedure involving the United States Court of Federal Claims and special masters. 

1986 Act Did Not Eliminate All Liability for Vaccine Makers or Administrators
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act passed by the 99th Congress in 1986 did not completely shield doctors or other vaccine administrators from vaccine injury lawsuits. Although vaccine product liability for manufacturers was restricted, it was not eliminated and manufacturers continued to be liable for design defect. In 1987, medical trade organizations successfully lobbied for inclusion of a one-sentence amendment in an Omnibus funding bill that broadened liability protection for pediatricians and other vaccine administrators, but did not broaden liability protection for vaccine manufacturers when there was evidence the company could have made a vaccine less harmful.4

U.S. Supreme Court Removed Vaccine Product Liability in 2011
Twenty-five years later, a 2011 split decision in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth by the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the legal right of vaccine injured persons to hold drug companies liable for design defect and failing to improve an FDA licensed vaccine to make it less harmful.5 Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsberg wrote a strong dissent, objecting to the majority’s inaccurate interpretation of the law and its legislative history.6

However, the majority ruling in this Supreme Court case means that, today, even if a drug company could have improved a government licensed and mandated vaccine to make it less reactive, a vaccine injured person cannot sue the company in a civil court in front of a jury of peers.7

Additionally, between 1987 and 2016, Congress allowed amendments and broad rule making authority granted to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to alter and weaken the original Act.8 9 10 11 The Act’s safety and research provisions, which parents fought hard to secure in the original Act to help prevent vaccine injuries and deaths, have been seriously compromised.12 13 Neglect and lack of congressional oversight on the Act for more than 30 years has enabled DHHS and the Department of Justice to turn what was supposed to be a non-adversarial, expedited, less expensive, fairer and more predictable federal vaccine injury compensation program, which Congress promised parents in 1986, into a highly adversarial, lengthy, traumatic and unpredictable imitation of a lawsuit in front of a one person jury.

Government Has Broken the Social Contract with Americans
During three decades of congressional amendments to the Act and abuse of authority by federal agencies, the government has broken the social contract with Americans being required to purchase and use FDA licensed and CDC recommended vaccines.

The U.S. government has assumed liability for harm caused by government licensed and mandated vaccines, but government officials cannot be sued in a civil court in front of a jury for failing to warn and protect the people from unsafe vaccines. The reality today is that nobody developing, manufacturing, selling, licensing, recommending, mandating or giving vaccines in the U.S. has real incentive to prevent vaccine injuries and deaths.

The above information and additional resources can be found by visiting the National Vaccine Information Center 


HHS & ICAN Lawsuit

"In 1986, Congress charged Health and Human Services (HHS) with the primary responsibility of ensuring vaccine safety after removing product liability from vaccine manufacturers as part of the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act. As part of the 1986 Act, HHS is required to create a task force and submit bi-annual reports to Congress detailing actions taken to ensure vaccine safety. This stipulated order shows that HHS has not acted in its duties regarding vaccine safety, forcing 78 million American children into a vaccine program with no safety provisions." - ICANDECIDE 

Notice and Release Here