(The Defender) A U.S. taxpayer-funded program to provide compensation for injuries relating to COVID-19 vaccines awarded $370,376 — an amount equal to the program’s death cap — for a myocarditis-related injury.
This compensation, issued by the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) was revealed as part of CICP’s most recent update, published Aug. 1.
It is one of just 14 COVID-19 vaccine injury claims that the program has approved — out of a total of 13,356 claims filed.
CICP, which offers compensation for serious injuries or deaths arising from countermeasures implemented during a public health emergency, did not provide further details about the award.
Wayne Rohde, author of “The Vaccine Court: The Dark Truth of America’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program” and “The Vaccine Court 2.0,” told The Defender this award “is the first large-dollar damage award in the COVID era” — but the program has made larger awards in the past, for the H1N1 flu vaccine.
“We can only assume it is for unreimbursed medical expenses and a possible combination with lost wages,” Rohde said. He said the compensation may be for an injury that resulted in death, but that’s unclear from the CICP website.
Of the 14 COVID-19 vaccine injury claims that CICP has disbursed, nine involve cases of myocarditisand three involved myopericarditis. There was also one award each for anaphylaxis and syncope.
Aside from the $370,376 payout, the other 13 reimbursed COVID-19 vaccine injury claims total a combined $48,373.12 — or an average of $3,721.01 per claim. Compensation for each claim ranges from $1,032.69 to $8,961.51.
Of the 13,356 COVID-19 claims filed with CICP, the program has rendered 3,130 decisions — finding only 57 claims eligible for compensation, while denying 3,073 claims. An additional 10,226 claims remain “in review” or are “pending review.”
CICP was established under the aegis of the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act(PREP Act) of 2005, designed to coordinate the response to a “public health emergency.”
CICP specifically focuses on countermeasures — “a vaccination, medication, device or other item recommended to diagnose, prevent or treat a declared pandemic, epidemic or security threat.”
A separate government fund, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), covers injuries arising from vaccines that are routinely administered to children and pregnant women.
CICP offers a $370,376 death cap and a $379,000 lifetime cap for economic damages, such as lost income from employment.
The CICP awards damages only for unreimbursed medical expenses, which was the case for the previous 13 compensable petitions for COVID-19-related countermeasures. Lost wages are capped at $50,000 per year, and unlike the VICP, the program does not provide compensation for pain and suffering, Rohde said.
CICP’s requirements ensure ‘few will file’ claims
Attorney Ray Flores, senior outside counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), is an expert on the PREP Act and government vaccine injury compensation programs.
He told The Defender that the CICP presents many obstacles to potential claimants.
“The secret menu at In-N-Out Burger is more well known than the CICP program,” Flores said. “CICP’s one-year statute of limitations guarantees few will file.”
According to Flores, “Absent timely filing under CICP, a federal lawsuit alleging willful misconduct cannot be filed. That’s another reason only one lawsuit has ever been filed in the 19 years since the PREP Act was enacted,” he added.
During a congressional hearing in February, problems with CICP were addressed, including the slow pace at which the program has resolved outstanding claims.
Dr. George Reed Grimes, director of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) Division of Injury Compensation Programs — the agency that administers the CICP — blamed a lack of resources and the “high evidence standard for an individual to be compensated by the CICP” for the backlog of claims.
Grimes also admitted that the CICP has not yet developed an injury table for COVID-19 countermeasure injuries.
Documents CHD received as part of a Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent lawsuit against the National Institutes of Health revealed that, at least as early as October 2021, Dr. Anthony Fauci received emails complaining about the slow pace of resolving claims through the CICP — but took no action.
“In my opinion now, and since I have been discussing the CICP for over 10 years, the CICP was never designed to be a compensation program for a nationwide outbreak spanning over several years,” Rohde told The Defender. “It was designed to handle short-term regional outbreaks or natural disasters.”
In March, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) introduced the Let Injured Americans Be Legally Empowered Act, or LIABLE Act, which would “allow Americans who took vaccines that were misleadingly promoted and forced onto many Americans via federal mandates to pursue civil litigation for their injuries,” bypassing CICP.
The proposed legislation would remove all federal liability protections for the COVID-19 vaccine, preserve the ability of injured Americans to access pre-existing compensation programs, such as VICP, and would be retroactive, allowing Americans vaccinated and injured before the bill’s passage to sue.
However, no further action has been taken on the bill following its introduction and referral to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary.
According to Rohde, any attempt to legislatively reform CICP would likely face several challenges. He said:
“There has been a lot of discussion but, so far, no action to move the COVID-19 vaccine into VICP. Several steps by the Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS] and Congress would have to be completed to migrate the vaccine into VICP.
“The big question will be what to do with the more than 13,000 petitions already filed in the CICP since, VICP does not allow EUA [emergency use authorization] vaccines. My fear is these petitioners will be ignored again. My hope is that Congress does change the law to allow, maybe, a one-time exception.”
Several lawsuits, which Flores described as “important cases challenging the constitutionality of the PREP Act’s CICP provisions,” are also currently pending.
A lawsuit filed in federal court in June challenges the PREP Act and specifically cites CICP’s “breathtakingly short” one-year statute of limitations.
According to the complaint, “This case is about the government’s failure to resolve conflicts involving Americans killed or grievously harmed while receiving healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
And a lawsuit filed in federal court in October 2023 on behalf of React19 — an advocacy group whose members were injured by the COVID-19 vaccines — and eight vaccine-injured individuals, argues that the PREP Act and CICP “violate the constitutional rights of those injured or killed by a COVID-19 vaccine.”
The complaint states, “The federal law that created the CICP immunizes vaccine manufacturers from financial liability except for cases of ‘willful misconduct.’ … In exchange, CICP is supposed to compensate those who are injured by ‘covered countermeasures’ like the COVID-19 vaccine” — but almost invariably does not.
However, legal efforts to challenge CICP and the PREP Act have been largely unsuccessful.
“I have talked with a few people and attorneys have tried to file a complaint in state court alleging negligence, battery to a child. So far courts have ruled that those suits must be presented to the CICP per the PREP Act,” Rohde said.
Flores and other legal experts have previously floated the possibility of filing workers’ compensation claims as a possible avenue for relief for some COVID-19 vaccine victims.
