COVID Shots Injury Claims May Take Up to a Decade to Settle
- by Rishma Parpia
- Published
- Risk & Failure Reports
A recent report released by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Committee on Oversight and Accountability by the U.S. House of Representatives on Dec. 4, 2024 revealed that the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) is deeply flawed. Unless the system is drastically overhauled, it may take up to 10 years to process the existing vaccine injury claims.1
According to the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), the CICP was supposed to provide compensation for covered serious injuries or deaths that occur from the administration or use of certain countermeasures. Compensation may include unreimbursed medical expenses (expenses that health insurance did not cover), lost employment income, and the survivor death benefit.2
CICP Failed to Handle the COVID Mass Vaccination Program
The CICP was established to provide compensation for injuries resulting from medical countermeasures (MCM) deployed to combat public health emergencies or security threats. While the U.S. has encountered significant public health challenges in the past, the COVID-19 pandemic put unprecedented strain on many public health institutions and systems. The Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic Committee on Oversight and Accountability found that the CICP is ill-equipped to handle the volume of claims associated with the widespread distribution of the COVID shots.3
As of Aug. 1, 2024, the CICP had received a total of 13,920 claims for MCM-related injuries, with an overwhelming majority (97 percent) related to COVID shots. This surge in claims was highlighted by CDR Reed Grimes, MD, MPH, who is the director of the Division of Injury Compensation Programs in his Feb. 15, 2024 testimony, where he discussed the significant challenges facing the program. He stated during his testimony:
While injuries are rare and these claims represent a small fraction of the approximately 676 million total COVID-19 vaccines that have been administered in the United States, the current caseload is of a different order than the previous volume of claims in the Program given the scale of the utilization of COVID-19 covered countermeasures”4
U.S. Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa questioned CDR Grimes about why there was a backlog. Grimes responded:
So, at the beginning of the COVID–19 pandemic, we had not had a direct appropriation with the CICP. We also had only four staff. When we received our first direct appropriation in Fiscal Year 2022, we were able to ramp up quickly, and now we have over 35 staff who are assisting to adjudicate claims.5
According to HRSA, 10,226 claims were pending or under review as of Aug. 1, 2024. With a staff increase to 35, Grimes reported a significant boost in claim resolution, from an average of zero per month to over 90. Despite this improvement, the current backlog, excluding new claims, would take nearly a decade to clear. Grimes indicated that additional measures are needed to expedite the process and ensure timely decisions.6
Critics argue that the CICP program is deficient in both capacity and transparency. The CICP provides limited benefits, lacks an appeals process, and offers reduced public accountability.7
A Transparent Vaccine Injury Compensation Program is Necessary
The report stated that regardless of assertions concerning the safety of COVID shots, the federal government mandated their use without designing and implementing an efficient system to adjudicate the inevitable adverse events that occur, which has . significant implications for public trust in both vaccines and government institutions.8
Janet Woodcock, MD, former Principal Deputy Commissioner of Food and Drugs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) agreed that that adequate vaccine injury compensation is important, particularly in promoting confidence in vaccines. She testified:
Because any medical intervention will cause some harm as well as some as well as major benefit. So the statutes say safe and effective, but safe really means relative to the magnitude of the benefit, not without any harm… And my understanding is the Vaccine Incentive Compensation Act was passed in order to recognize that people can be harmed and to adequately compensate them and protect them.9
Discussing Vaccine Injury Compensation is Not “Anti-Vax”
The report added that it is paradoxical to imply that the vaccine injured are “anti-vax since a person must be vaccinated to experience a serious reaction, highlighting the fact that divisive language employed by those promoting use of COVID-19 shots during the vaccination campaign was counterproductive and harmful. The point was made that dismissing and alienating individuals who experienced life-altering side effects from the COVID shots further eroded public trust in both vaccines and public health agencies.10
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