Government Spending Bill Extends Deadline for Filing COVID-19 Injury Claims
- by Carolyn Hendler, JD
- Published
- Risk & Failure Reports
A new U.S. government spending bill will extend the time for those injured by the COVID-19 shot to file for federal vaccine injury compensation under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP). Under the bill, certain claimants previously denied compensation will be permitted to refile their claims. under the bill, as well.
The continuing resolution bill that Congress passed on Dec. 20, 2024, which contains language about filing COVID shot injury claims in the CICP, will fund the federal government. It will extend the deadline for filing a COVID shot adverse reaction from one year to three years from the date the shot was administered or one year after the date the new bill is enacted, whichever is later. Those injured by the shot will have until December 2025 to file a claim with the CICP.1
COVID Shot Claims Fall Under CICP
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted COVID vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to distribute the COVID mRNA biological to the public in December 2020. As an EUA pharmaceutical product, the COVID shots are considered a covered medical “countermeasure” as defined by the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) passed by Congress in 2005.2
The federal CICP is considered the payor of last resort and, if a claimant receives compensation, it will only cover unreimbursed medical expenses, a limited amount for lost wages and survivor death benefits.3 The CICP is an administrative process whereby a claimant is not allowed an attorney, is not entitled to a hearing, and may not appeal the decision. Instead, unidentified government officials render their decisions as to whether a claimant in entitled to compensation based on the limited allowable documents submitted on the record.4 The decision is final and not reviewable by any court.5
The CICP compensation program differs from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) established under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 that applies to CDC recommended vaccines for children that result in injuries or deaths, with symptoms of adverse events for different vaccines listed on a Vaccine Injury Table.6 The CICP was established in 2010 to assist people injured by certain covered medical countermeasures, including vaccines, that are used during government declared public health emergencies.7
CICP Program Overwhelmed by Large Number COVID Shot Injury Claims
The CICP has been struggling to keep up with COVID shot injury
claims. According to the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus
Pandemic, it could take the CICP almost a decade to process all of the
existing claims. As of November 2024, more than 13,000 claims for
COVID-19 counter measures (10,449 for the COVID shot) have been filed
with 10,000 claims waiting for review.8
A report from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic stated:
The Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program failed to handle a mass-vaccination program… The current backlog would take nearly a decade to eliminate without accounting for any new claims.9
The report pointed out that COVD shot claims have overwhelmed the CICP due to the large number of claimants filing for compensation after du extensive COVID shot mandates implemented by the federal government.10
With the deadline extended to file claims, an already overburdened CICP will have even more claims to process.
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