RFK Jr. Vows Overhaul of Lawsuit-Sparing Vaccine Injury Program

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he plans to make substantial changes to a federal program that compensates people who have serious side effects from vaccines and protects manufacturers from being sued.

“We just brought a guy in this week who is going to be revolutionizing the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,” Kennedy said in an interview posted Monday evening with former Fox News star Tucker Carlson.

Kennedy, the nation’s top health leader as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, didn’t offer details on the changes or the person who will be spearheading them. An HHS spokesman declined to offer more details on Kennedy’s comments.

Congress created the program nearly four decades ago after a wave of lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers caused some to drop out of the business. The program, which has a three-year statute of limitations, shields companies from most lawsuits and includes a fund that pays people who experience a serious reaction to a covered vaccine.

People who claim they were harmed by Covid shots aren’t eligible to file for compensation through the VICP. Instead they can file a claim with a different program, called the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, which was designed for public health threats. It has more limited payouts and stricter standards, including a one-year statute of limitations.

The government is looking at ways to expand the VICP program “so Covid vaccine-injured people can be compensated,” Kennedy said, without explaining how the administration plans to institute the changes that are normally overseen by Congress.

He also said the Trump administration wants to lengthen the three-year statue of limitations. “A lot of people don’t discover their injuries until after that,” he said.

Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said he is worried that Kennedy may make it easier to “bring bogus lawsuits to civil court claiming vaccine injuries,” forcing vaccine companies to exit the business.

Last month, the online publication NOTUS reported that HHS paid $150,000 to retain Arizona law firm Brueckner Spitler Shelts for its “expertise” on the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. One of the firm’s partners, Drew Downing, is described as “one of the preeminent litigation attorneys” in federal claims court for vaccine injuries on his firm’s site.