PRESS RELEASE

 

Contacts:          Jeff Thompson – 800.220.9341

Jeff Sell – 800.220.9341

For immediate release

August 5, 2001, Houston, Texas

 

“VACCINE INJURY ALLIANCE”

 

(HOUSTON, TEXAS-August 8, 2001)

The Williams Bailey Law Firm, L.L.P., (Houston, Texas) has assembled a strategic alliance of the leading law firms in the country to make people aware of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (“NVICP”) and vigorously prosecute vaccine injury claims on a number of different fronts” according to John Eddie Williams, Jr., Managing Partner. “We will be offering our clients a full service individualized approach to vaccine injury claims; from filing and administering claims under the NVICP, to pursuing individual civil actions across the nation if the Program denies a claim or awards an inadequate amount of compensation for the adverse reactions suffered”.

In 1986 Congress established the NVICP to compensate victims, protect vaccine manufacturers and health care personnel administering vaccines from liability resulting from vaccine related injuries and deaths. Even though the enabling legislation that created the NVICP requires the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to “undertake reasonable efforts to inform the public of the availability of the Program”, most parents, teachers, physicians, and even many attorneys, are unaware of the existence of this program, let alone the three year (3 year) statute of limitations that may bar claims that are not timely filed. “The Secretary has obviously done very little, if anything to fulfill this directive, so we will,” according to Jeff Sell, an attorney working with the William Bailey Law Firm.

The limitation provision buried within the NVICP states:

 

“a vaccine set forth in the Vaccine Injury Table which is administered after October 1, 1988, if a vaccine-related injury occurred as a result of the administration of such vaccine, no petition may be filed for compensation under the Program for such injury after the expiration of 36 months [48 months with respect to death claims] after the date of the occurrence of the first symptom or manifestation of onset or of the significant aggravation of such injury…” 42 USC Sec. 300aa-16.

 

The strategic “vaccine alliance” includes: Williams Bailey Law Firm, L.L.P. (Houston), Conway, Homer & Chin-Caplan, P.C. (Boston), Shoemaker & Horn (Vienna, VA), Blizzard & McCarthy (Houston) and Hitt, Patterson & Sell (Houston) and others. Some of these firms have for years specialized in representing individuals under the NVICP who have been injured by vaccinations.

 

ALL INFORMATION, DATA, AND MATERIAL CONTAINED, PRESENTED, OR PROVIDED HERE IS FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES ONLY AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED AS REFLECTING THE KNOWLEDGE OR OPINIONS OF THE PUBLISHER, AND IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED OR INTENDED AS PROVIDING MEDICAL OR LEGAL ADVICE.  THE DECISION WHETHER OR NOT TO VACCINATE IS AN IMPORTANT AND COMPLEX ISSUE AND SHOULD BE MADE BY YOU, AND YOU ALONE, IN CONSULTATION WITH YOUR HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.