Vaccines in the U.S. have an enviable safety record. However, no medical procedure is 100% safe. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was established by Congress to help people who suffer adverse health effects from vaccines.
The Department of Health and Human Services provides a Vaccine Injury Table, which lists conditions that are presumed to be caused by the vaccine. This streamlines the compensation procedure for individuals who experience these problems. Analphylaxis or anaphylactic shock is included for the vaccines for tetanus, pertussis, MMR (measles, mumps and rubella), polio (inactivated virus), and hepatitis B. Other conditions in the Vaccine Injury Table are:
1.Brachial neuritis from tetanus vaccines
2.Encephalopathy from pertussis or measles, mumps and rubella vaccines
3.Chronic arthritis from rubella vaccine
4.Thrombocytopenic purpura from measles vaccine
5.Paralytic polio from polio live virus vaccine
The table also specifies the time period between the vaccine and the onset of symptoms. If you have a claim for a condition not listed in the Vaccine Injury Table, you need to provide medical evidence that your condition was caused by the vaccine. Compensation has been awarded for other injuries, including scars, emotional distress, and pain and suffering. In all cases, you must have medical records or a statement from a physician as evidence that the vaccine caused the injury. Medical records are considered stronger evidence than testimony from doctors who were not involved in treatment.
An on-going issue in vaccine safety is Guillian-Barre Syndrome (GBS) from influenza vaccines. This condition was identified in approximately 1 per 100,000 recipients of the 1976 swine flu vaccine. For current flu vaccines, the incidence of GBS may be 1 to 2 cases per million vaccine recipients, based on studies that show an association (other studies show no association).
The human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine is an issue of emerging concern. So far 9 petitions have been filed in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, including one for death. None of these cases has finished the adjudication process yet.
Autism is a noteworthy claim in the VICP program. Almost 43% of the total petitions have claimed that one or more vaccines caused autism. So far none have been compensated, although some of the cases are still in progress. Most of these cases were filed in a relatively short time period from 2002 to 2005.
The Department of Health and Human Services has contracted the Institute of Medicine to review the evidence for adverse health effects associated with vaccines, including influenza and HPV vaccines. All significant adverse reactions to vaccines should be reported to the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration. You can do this online at http://vaers.hhs.gov/index.
References:
The complete Vaccine Injury Table can be found at http://www.hrsa.gov/vaccinecompensation/table.htm.
Fiore AE et al, “Seasonal influenza vaccines”, Curr Top Microbiol Immunol 2009;333:43-82.
Linda Fugate is a scientist and writer in Austin, Texas. She has a Ph.D. in Physics and an M.S. in Macromolecular Science and Engineering. Her background includes academic and industrial research in materials science. She currently writes song lyrics and health articles.