"While unrest and new vaccine restrictions have kept US health agencies in headlines, there's one vaccine program in particular that Robert F Kennedy Jr, secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), recently vowed to fix, which experts say could further upend the vaccine industry and prevent people experiencing rare side effects from vaccines from getting financial help."
"Making major changes to the program may open up vaccine makers to more litigation, making it difficult for them to keep existing vaccines on the market or to produce new ones. In 1980, there were 18 companies in the US producing vaccines; a decade later, there were four. Congress passed a law in 1986 leading to the establishment of the VICP to prevent further instability in the vaccine market."
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., as HHS secretary, has vowed to alter the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). Some changes require congressional action, but the secretary can take administrative steps to reshape program operations. Kennedy appears to pursue conflicting approaches: expanding compensation access or dismantling the program, and possibly undermining public trust in vaccines. VICP was created in 1986 to stabilize the vaccine market after company exits. Major changes could increase litigation risk for manufacturers, threaten availability and development of vaccines, and impede financial relief for people experiencing very rare vaccine side effects.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]