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Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wants to make it easier for people to get compensated for injuries they claim came from COVID-19 vaccines.
A rule being prepared by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would allow the agency to compile a list of specific injuries that it will presume were directly caused by a covered COVID-19 countermeasure, such as a vaccine or therapeutic, so long as it was caused within a specific time frame.
If the injury were placed on the list, people would be able to get compensated without having to prove causation.
The rule hasn’t been publicly released, so it’s not clear which injuries the HHS might include. The agency in a Federal Register notice indicated the proposal would be published in November.
While rare, certain injuries associated with mRNA COVID-19 vaccines like myocarditis or anaphylaxis have been recognized by medical literature. Experts think it’s smart to create a list for established, well-documented injuries associated with the COVID-19 shot, since it is so widespread.
But they are wary about Kennedy’s plans.
The secretary has long been skeptical about the safety of vaccines and has previously said he wants to overhaul and add new claims to a separate system for compensating people who say they were harmed by a vaccine.
In an emailed memo, pharmaceutical attorney Richard Hughes IV said a narrow list would be “consistent with the kind of evidence-based compensation system Congress contemplated.”
Hughes, with Epstein, Becker Green, is representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Kennedy’s vaccine policy changes.
The concern is not the rule itself, but the possibility the HHS lists overly broad conditions which would sow doubt about the effectiveness and safety of the shots.
“That would be scientifically unsound,” Hughes said, but also “politically useful in the current environment.”
Kennedy can legally only add injuries to the table based on “compelling, reliable, valid, medical and scientific evidence” that administration or use of the covered countermeasure directly caused the injury.
“In plain terms, timing alone is not enough. Suspicion is not enough. Political pressure is not enough. The statute requires strong medical and scientific evidence of direct causation,” Hughes wrote.
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