U.S. Paying for Deaths, Injuries Blamed on Children’s Vaccine

A unique federal compensation system has awarded $22 million to the families of children who died or suffered injury after being vaccinated for whooping cough and other diseases.

Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, the system, administered by the U.S. Claims Court, offers such families an alternative to time-consuming, sometimes futile litigation against drug companies and physicians.

Some 57,000 children receive the DPT (diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus) vaccine each week in the United States. Most children receive four DPT shots before age 2, and state laws make vaccination a condition of admission to school.

Some children suffer from pain, swelling and high fever after the injections. Severe reactions, including seizures, doctors generally attribute to the pertussis (whooping cough) portion of the vaccine, although debate rages in the scientific community as to whether it could cause permanent injury.

Leaders of the American Academy of Pediatrics are recommending that the academy adopt the position that there is no proof that DPT causes severe neurological disorders or death.

Under the compensation system, families do not have to prove to a jury that the vaccine caused injury or death or that a pharmaceutical company or doctor was negligent.

Compensation is paid directly to families whose children develop specific symptoms within a specified period after they are immunized and suffer from injury that lasts at least six months. The payment is made as long as the government does not prove that the injury was due to some other cause.