VACCINE

Pace Environmental Law Review, vol. 28, no. 2 • 2011
Unanswered Questions
A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury
by Mary Holland, Louis Conte, Robert Krakow and Lisa Colin
Executive Summary
In 1986, Congress created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) under the National Childhood
Vaccine Injury Act (1986 Law). This Program has original jurisdiction for children’s claims of vaccine injury.
Because almost all children receive multiple vaccinations for daycare and school, it is critically important that the
Program provides fundamental fairness, due process and transparency.
This empirical investigation, published in a peer-reviewed law journal, examines claims that the VICP compensated
for vaccine-induced encephalopathy and seizure disorder. The VICP has compensated approximately 2,500
claims of vaccine injury since the inception of the program. This study found 83 cases of acknowledged vaccineinduced
brain damage that include autism, a disorder that affects speech, social communication and behavior. In
21 published cases of the Court of Federal Claims, which administers the VICP, the Court stated that the petitioners
had autism or described autism unambiguously. In 62 remaining cases, the authors identified settlement agreements
where Health and Human Services (HHS) compensated children with vaccine-induced brain damage, who
also have autism or an autism spectrum disorder.
Parents reported the existence of autism in telephone interviews and supplied supplemental materials including
medical diagnoses, school records, and completed, standard autism screening questionnaires to verify their
reports. In 39 of the 83 cases, or 47% of the cases of vaccine injury reviewed, there is confirmation of autism or
autism spectrum disorder beyond parental report.
This finding of autism in compensated cases of vaccine injury is significant. U.S. government spokespeople have
been asserting no vaccine-autism link for more than a decade. This finding calls into question the decisions of the
Court of Federal Claims in the Omnibus Autism Proceeding in 2009 and 2010 and the statement of Health and
Human Services on its website that “HHS has never concluded in any case that autism was caused by vaccination.”
“Using publicly available information,
the investigation shows that the Vaccine Injury
Compensation Program (VICP) has been
compensating cases of vaccine-induced brain
damage associated with autism for more than
twenty years. This investigation suggests that
officials at HHS, the Department of Justice and the
Court of Federal Claims may have been aware of
this association but failed to publicly disclose it.”
Using publicly available information, the investigation shows that the VICP has been compensating cases of vaccine-induced
brain damage associated with autism for more than twenty years. This investigation suggests that
officials at HHS, the Department of Justice and the Court of Federal Claims may have been aware of this association
but failed to publicly disclose it.
The study calls on Congress to thoroughly investigate the VICP, including a medical investigation of compensated
claims of vaccine injury. This investigation calls on Congress to get answers to these critically important
unanswered questions.
http://www.ebcala.org/unanswered-questions