"Bill to Compensate Victims of Vaccine Passes Committee"
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"Bill to Compensate Victims of Vaccine
Passes Committee"
Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
(04/03/03) P. D3; Lueck, Sarah
Although facing strong Democratic
opposition for being too weak, a Senate committee passed a Republican-backed
plan to pay $262,000 to families of individuals killed or totally disabled due
to the smallpox vaccine, and people with less severe injuries would receive
$50,000 in lost wages and reimbursement for medical expenses. Both Republicans
and Democrats feel that a compensation program would increase the likelihood of
first responders receiving the vaccine; only 25,000 people received the smallpox
vaccination out of the 450,000 originally expected to receive the shot. Sen.
Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) wants to both increase funding for permanently disabled
individuals and also guarantee funding of the initiative for the future.
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"A foolish faith in authority is the worst enemy of truth."
-- Albert Einstein, letter to a friend, 1901
"I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education."
-- Thomas Jefferson, letter to William C. Jarvis, September 28, 1820
"What's the point of vaccination if it doesn't protect you from the unvaccinated?"
-- Sandy Gottstein
"Who gets to decide what the greater good is and how many will be sacrificed to it?"