Three additional COVID-19 vaccine injuries have met the bar for compensation, U.S. authorities announced Oct. 20.
Six claims lodged with the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) have now been determined to be eligible for compensation, a Health Resources and Services Administration official told a meeting on vaccines. All the claims relate to COVID-19 vaccines.
One is the result of severe allergic shock. The five others are the result of myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation.
Of the six vaccine-injured people, only one has been partially compensated. Officials are reviewing “eligible expenses” for all six, the official said.
Due to the invocation of an emergency over the COVID-19 pandemic, COVID-19 vaccine injury claims must be made to the CICP, rather than a different program called the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
Certain serious conditions and deaths are covered by CICP, but claims must be judged by a secret panel as having proven a link between the condition or death and the vaccine.
Some COVID-19 therapies are also covered by the program.
Forty-eight claims have been denied because they did not meet the standard proof of causation bar and/or the injury sustained is not covered, the administration official said.
As of Oct. 1, some 10,300 claims have been lodged. About 70 percent allege injuries from COVID-19 vaccines.
VICP Claims Drop
Many more claims are being made to the CICP than to the VICP, which was created in the 1980s to shield vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits.
VICP covers a number of vaccines regularly given to Americans, such as the measles vaccine, the Hepatitis A vaccine, and the Tetanus shot.
In fiscal year 2021, 2,057 claims were lodged with the VICP. U.S. authorities paid about $203 million to resolve claims, and another $36 million for fees to attorneys representing injured people.
In fiscal year 2022, just 995 claims were filed. That led to payments of nearly $196 million, as well as an additional $34.2 million to lawyers.
VICP has a gigantic backlog. There are more than 1,500 claims still awaiting review.