For Immediate Release:                                                          Contact: Mark Corallo/ Beth Frigola
February 13, 2002                                                               (202) 225-5074

Lawmakers Seek Reforms in
Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

Washington, D.C. -  A bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton (R-IN) and Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-CA) today introduced legislation to make the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program more generous and compassionate.
During two days of hearings before the Government Reform Committee, families of injured children complained about long delays, overly adversarial tactics employed by government lawyers, and other difficulties with the program.
The legislation introduced today would:

Increase the compensation for vaccine-related deaths to $300,000;
Make the compensation for lost earnings more generous;
Allow compensation for the costs of family counseling and creating a guardianship;
Allow for the payment of interim attorneys fees and costs while a case is under review;
Extend the statute of limitations for filing a petition to six years; and
Establish a two-year window for families to file a petition if they were previously excluded from the program by the existing two-year statute of limitations.
"Vaccine-related injuries are devastating for families that have to deal with them," said Burton.  "Congress intended this program to be swift, compassionate and generous. However, too many times, these families are confronted by bureaucratic indifference, long delays and overly adversarial tactics.  We heard testimony from parents who fought for ten years to win compensation for their children.  That's not acceptable.  This bill won't fix every problem that people have experienced, but it's a good first step.  We have bipartisan support for this bill, and I hope we can get it signed into law this year.  I want to thank Congressmen Waxman, Congressman Weldon, and all of the other cosponsors who helped put this bill together."
"The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has been largely successful in stabilizing the vaccine industry; in maintaining public confidence in immunizations; and in compensating people who have been injured by vaccines.  However, the system is not perfect.  This legislation would help to improve the program and help to make sure that it is as generous and easy as it can be," said Waxman.
Immunizations are considered the most important public health achievement of the 20th Century.  Because of immunizations, children are no longer disabled by polio, suffer brain damage from measles, or die from smallpox.  However, immunizations are not risk-free.  In rare cases, they can cause serious injuries.
Congress created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1986 to compensate families quickly and generously when vaccine injuries occur.  At the time, vaccine manufacturers were facing numerous vaccine injury lawsuits and were threatening to leave the market.  Creation of the VICP helped keep manufacturers in the market and stabilize vaccine supply.  Under the program, vaccine makers are partially shielded from liability for vaccine-related injuries.  An excise tax is charged with each dose of vaccine.  The proceeds go into a Federal fund used to compensate victims.  
Joining Burton and Waxman as original cosponsors of the bill are:
Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL)
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY)  
Rep. Ben Gilman (R-NY)
Rep. Steve Horn (R-CA)
Rep. John Duncan, Jr. (R-TN)
Rep. Martin Frost (D-TX)
Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD)
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH)
Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA)
Rep. Tom Davis (R-VA)
The legislation expands on a set of reforms proposed by the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines in 1999.  It also addresses problems identified by parents of injured children who testified at two Government Reform Committee hearings last fall.