Federal Government Compensates Victims of Vaccine Induced Autism

On March 6th the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) conceded and ordered compensation for Hannah Poling for vaccine induced autism.? The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has gone on record as stating that the VICP has never before the Poling’s case awarded compensation based on a link between vaccines and autism. ?

SafeMinds has learned of 13 other similar cases and there could be many more.? The response by government officials should not be how rare the link may be, but actually investigating how many individuals are affected.? There are currently 4,900 autism-related cases under consideration by the vaccine court with many more families unable to file a complaint, due to unreasonable statute of limitation restrictions. ?

In light of the VICP awards, and the magnitude of cases currently in vaccine court, the obvious and logical precaution would be thimerosal’s permanent removal from the vaccine supply to begin to rebuild the public’s faith in immunization, as proposed by H.R. 881: Mercury-Free Vaccines Act of 2007.   Notably, removal of thimerosal was also recommended in the 2003 Congressional Report, Mercury in Medicine – Taking Unnecessary Risks:

i)    “Mercury is hazardous to humans. Its use in medicinal products is undesirable, unnecessary and should be minimized or eliminated entirely.”  
ii)    “The CDC s failure to state a preference for thimerosal-free vaccines in 2000 and again in 2001 was an abdication of their responsibility. As a result, many children received vaccines containing thimerosal when thimerosal-free alternatives were available.”