Quarterly Report to the Technology Assessment Board, January 1 - March 31, 1981 Page: 51
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From the Press Office
Govt. Hedges On
Vaccine Liability
The Congressional Office of Tehnology
assessment (OTA) has released a technical
memorandum which outlines the elements and
principles that should be considered in any
legislation to establish a Federal compensation
progam for persons injured as a result of being
vaccinated in public immunization programs.
. The issue of compensation for vaccine-related
injuries came to Congressional and public attention
dramatically in 1976 in connection with the
FIederal Government's sponsorship of a mass
immunization program against swine flu. In a
recent development, a Federal court in Virginia
awarded the first judgment from the Government
for a "delayed reaction" injury to a swine
flu vaccinee who developed Guillain-Barre
(G-B) paralysis four months after her vaccination.
Prior to this court decision, the Government
had agreed to compensate patients who proved
that they developed G-B within ten weeks of the
shots. The memorandum discusses the swine flu
program as an example of the problems inherent
i4 compensating for vaccine-related injuries via
the tort law system.
,The memorandum is OTA's response to a request
from the House Interstate and Foreign
Commerce Committee. It expands on a chapter
in the 199 OTA report, "A Review of Selected
Federal Vaccine and Immunization Policies."
The 1979 OTA report pointed to a major decline
in the number of active vaccine manufacturers
and of licensed vaccine products, noting that
some researchers blamed Federal policies for at
least part of the decline. Further, the report suggested
that liability problems may be eroding
the commitments of vaccine manufacturers,
Congress, and State health departments to
public immunization programs.
The 1979 report emphasized that all vaccines,
even when properly manufactured and administered,
may pose risks to users. Under the
existing legal liability system, persons injured
from vaccination must establish fault in court in
order to receive compensation. The injured person
generally sues one or more of the participants
in the vaccination process (e.g., a party
that manufactures, distributes, pays for, encourages
the use of, or administers the vaccine).
In four major cases inthe past 11 years, including
the recent swine flu decision, plaintiffs
have won large judgments against vaccine
manufacturers for injuries caused by nondefective
and properly adminstered vaccines. This
situation, according to the paper, has affected
manufacturers' willingness to produce and supply
vaccines.Oklahoma City
Capitol Hill Beacon
Feb. 12, 1981
"The newly-issued OTA memorandum does not
analyze the arguments for and against a Federal,
compensation program. Rather, it starts witit
the assumption that establishing such a -rogram
is desirable. The primary case for establishing a
vaccine-injury compensation program, the OTA,
memorandum states, is that society is obligated
to minimize the consequences of injury when a
vaccinee is harmed instead of protected in public
immunization programs.
Six nations and the state of California have
vaccine-injury compensation programs. These
programs, according to the OTA memorandum,
contain the elements that Congress must consider
in formulating a Federal compensation
program: 1) the vaccines to be covered, 2) the injuries
to be included, 3) the kinds of compensation,
4) the administrative mechanisms, and 5)
the relationships with existing compensation
programs (lawsuits, social insurance).
The memorandum sets out the Federal
Government's current approach to compensation,
the major arguments for and against a compensation
program, the costs of such programs,
the types and estimated numbers of'vaccinerelated
injuries, current approaches to vaccineinjury
compensation, and compensation in lightof
future developments in vaccines.
OTA is a non partisan analytical support agency
which serves the U.S. Congress. Its purpose is
to help Congress deal with the complex and often
highly technical issues that increasingly confront
our society.
The OTA Technical Memorandum, "Compensation
for Vaccine-Related Injuries,' is
available at the U.S. Government Printing Office
(GPO), Superintendent of Documents,
Washington, D.C. 20402. The GPO stock number
is 052-003-00788-6; the price is $4.50. Copies for
Congressional use can be obtained by calling the
OTA publishing office at 4-8996.
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Office of Technology Assessment. Quarterly Report to the Technology Assessment Board, January 1 - March 31, 1981, text, 1981; Washington, D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc9229/m1/75/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.