The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act of 1986 (“Vaccine Act”), 42 U.S.C.A. § 300aa-11 et seq., established a streamlined, no-fault compensation method for injured vaccine recipients to recover compensation. Under the Vaccine Act, a no-fault program was established for monetary compensation petitions to be brought by or on behalf of those injured or killed through the administration of certain vaccines. The Vaccine Act does not apply to all vaccine-related lawsuits, but only to those brought against a vaccine administrator or manufacturer.[1]
To be eligible to file a claim, the vaccine must be covered under the Act.[2] In addition, the effects of the person’s injury must have (1) lasted for more than six months after the vaccine was given; or (2) resulted in death. A claim must be filed within three years after the first symptom of the vaccine injury, or if death resulted, the claim must be filed within two years of the death and four years after the start of symptoms of the vaccine-related injury from which the death occurred.[3]
Read the article by Kathleen Loucks which appeared in the Mitchell Hamline Law Review.
