2017 Was Record Year for Vaccine Injury Claims

Published on July 30, 2018 by Sandy Liebhard

More than 1,200 claims were filed with the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) during the last fiscal year, the most in a decade.

According to data from the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a total of 1,243 vaccine injury claims were filed with the program during Fiscal Year 2017, which ran from October 2016 through September 2017.

For comparison, only 1,120 claims were filed with the NVICP during the prior fiscal year.

As of June 29^th, 867 claims had been filed with the program for Fiscal Year 2018.

About the NVICP

The NVICP was created in 1986 by an act of Congress to provide compensation to people found to be injured by certain covered vaccines, including vaccines for:

• Chickenpox (Varivax, ProQuad)
• Diphtheria, Tetanus & Whooping Cough (DPT, DTap, Tdap, Td)
• Influenza (Flu) Vaccine
• Hepatitis A & B Vaccines
• Haemophilus Influenzae Type b (Hib) Vaccine
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine (Gardasil)
• Meningitis Vaccine
• MMR Vaccine (Measles, Mumps, Rubella Combined Vaccine)
• Pneumonia Vaccine (Pneumonia Conjugate Vaccines, including Prevnar 13 and Pneumovax 23)

The NVICP is governed by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

The Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund provides funding for the NVICP. A $.75 tax on every vaccine dose administered in the U.S. pays for the trust fund.

Vaccine injury claims are adjudicated by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Between 2006 and 2016, 5,492 petitions were brought before the Court, including 3,723 that resulted in compensation.

Almost 80% of all compensation awarded by the NVICP results from a negotiated settlement between the parties.

Seasonal Flu Vaccine Most Common Vaccine

Over 3.1 billion doses of covered vaccines were distributed in the U.S. were distributed in the U.S. between 2006 and 2016.

The influenza vaccine was the most commonly administered vaccine during that time period, with 1.4 billion doses administered.  A total of  2,765 vaccine injury claims in connection with the flu vaccine were filed with the NVICP between 2006 and 2016. Of those, 2,399 resulted in compensation.

The Tdap vaccine was the second most commonly administered vaccine (225 million doses) between 2006 and 2016.  During that decade, 349 Tdap vaccine injury claims were filed with the NVICP, while 297 claimants were compensated.