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Review
. 2020 Feb 24;38(9):2136-2143.
doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.01.042. Epub 2020 Jan 22.

Performance of the United States Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP): 1988-2019

Kimberly M Thompson  1 , Walter A Orenstein  2 , Alan R Hinman  3
Affiliations
Review

Performance of the United States Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP): 1988-2019

Kimberly M Thompson et al. Vaccine. .

Abstract

The United States (US) highly values the individual and societal benefits of vaccination and invests significantly in vaccine development and use as part of its national vaccine enterprise. In 1986, recognizing the small, but non-zero risks associated with vaccines, the US created a mechanism to collect excise taxes on each dose of vaccine to fund a national Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP). The VICP includes a system for those claiming serious injuries from vaccines to seek compensation, and a process to pay individuals with legitimate claims and their legal counsel. Given the maturity of the VICP, we review experience with the vaccines and injuries covered, claims, and economics of the fund. Our review shows the excellent safety track record of vaccines, provides some evidence of injuries related specifically to vaccine delivery, and discusses the financial health of the fund.

Keywords: Injury compensation; Safety; Vaccine; Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Number of new petitions (claims) filed, adjudicated and compensated, adjudicated and dismissed and implied pending claims (in the queue) by US fiscal year [11]
Figure 2a:
Figure 2a:
Annual excise tax and interest payments to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund by fiscal year (top of stacked bar shows total inflows) [17]
Figure 2b:
Figure 2b:
Outflows from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund by type and fiscal year (top of stacked bar shows total outflows) [11, 17]
Figure 2c:
Figure 2c:
Equity in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund [17]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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