Yes, you can get compensated for injuries from COVID vaccines. Here’s what to know

If you or someone you know dies or gets injured from any of the three COVID-19 vaccines — which medical experts say is rare — legal compensation is available.

But the process is different and generally more limited compared to other vaccines.

Most routine vaccinations in the U.S., including the measles, hepatitis, flu, Tdap and polio shots, are covered by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which was created by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 following several lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and health care providers.

The VCIP covers injury-related expenses for diagnosis, medical care and rehabilitation services, as well as lost employment income, suffering, emotional distress damages, death benefits and attorney’s fees.

Financial benefits max out at $250,000 for death and $250,000 for pain, suffering and emotional distress.

COVID-19 vaccines, on the other hand, are not covered by the VCIP for three reasons: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has not recommended the shots for routine administration — such as the flu shot, which is recommended every year — in children and pregnant women; the shots are not subject to an excise tax by federal law; and the Secretary of Health and Human Services has not added the category “COVID-19 vaccines” to the VCIP.

Instead, coronavirus vaccines are covered by the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), a “last resort” payer of expenses that other third parties, such as health insurances, the Department of Veterans Affairs or Workers’ Compensation programs, are not legally required to pay.

The program covers only injuries and deaths stemming from a security or public health threat, such as the coronavirus pandemic, but the benefits are much more limited compared to those offered by the VCIP.

The CICP offers compensation for death or serious physical injury that requires hospitalization or led to disability caused by the shots, similar to the VCIP, but the program only covers unreimbursed “reasonable medical expenses, lost employment income and death benefits,” and does not cover attorney’s fees or pain and suffering damages.

The CICP caps at $50,000 a year for lost employment income and about $370,300 for death for the fiscal year 2021.

Punitive damages, also known as “punishment” payments, are not covered by either program.

Of the more than 423 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines administered in the U.S. as of Nov. 1, 9,367 people who received a shot have since died (0.0022%), according to the CDC. Other rare reactions include about 50 vaccinated people who developed blood clots, about 244 who developed Guillain-Barré Syndrome and about 1,005 who developed myocarditis or pericarditis as of Oct. 27.

However, all deaths and adverse reactions after vaccination are required to be reported to the agency, meaning they were not necessarily caused by a vaccine — a common misconception among those who remain hesitant to get vaccinated.

McClatchy News is awaiting comment from the CDC.

Some say CICP’s limited benefits aren’t ‘taking care’ of vaccine recipients

Some say the exclusion of COVID-19 vaccines from the VCIP implies the shots aren’t safe and that the government refuses to claim responsibility for any injuries or deaths caused by the vaccines. Much of the frustration and mistrust revolves around the CICP’s limited benefits.

“Our political leaders have encouraged people to get the vaccine. Accordingly, they should also afford those injured by the COVID-19 vaccine the same avenues of recourse provided to people injured by other vaccines,” Daniel Alholm, a vaccine injury attorney in Nashville, wrote for The Tennessean. “Adding the COVID-19 vaccine to the NVICP further instills public trust in the vaccine.

“Most importantly,” he continued, “people who did the right thing by getting vaccinated deserve to be taken care of.”

In February 2020, former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) for the COVID-19 pandemic, declaring it a public health emergency.

This means drug or vaccine manufacturers, distributors and health care providers are “immune” from being sued for money damages involving covered COVID-19 countermeasures in court, including drugs or medical devices that are approved, licensed or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Invoking the PREP Act meant these products could be developed and distributed quickly, free from legal liability, with the stated goal of saving the most lives in the middle of a rapidly evolving pandemic.

“Covered countermeasures” include ventilators, masks, therapeutic drugs such as remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies, and COVID-19 vaccines. Other public health threats covered by the CICP include Zika, Ebola, smallpox and anthrax.

“After the Secretary terminates the PREP Act Declaration for the COVID-19 pandemic, any injuries or death from COVID-19 vaccines administered after the declaration ends would be addressed in court under tort law unless the COVID-19 vaccines are added to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program,” according to the Congressional Research Service, a public policy research institute within Congress.

No COVID-19 claims have been compensated

Since 2010, the CICP has compensated 29 claims at a total of $6 million. All but one of the compensated claims were tied to the H1N1 vaccine used during the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010. One claim involved the smallpox vaccine.

As of Oct. 1, none of the 3,158 COVID-19 countermeasure claims have been compensated, including 1,357 that involve the vaccines.

Some of the alleged injuries or deaths from COVID-19 vaccines or other countermeasures include appendicitis, armpit swelling, blood clots, fever, hearing loss, heart palpitations, myocarditis, rash, seizure, shoulder injury, Bell’s Palsy and Guillain-Barré syndrome. Controversial medications, including ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, were behind some of the alleged injuries and deaths.

To apply for CICP compensation, you must file a request within one year of the date you received the countermeasure. You may need to submit medical records “and other evidence to establish eligibility.” Decisions are made by members of the CICP.

It’s unknown when or if coronavirus vaccines will become an annual vaccine like the flu shot, but experts with the Congressional Research Service say government officials could add the shots to the excise tax list and the CDC could eventually recommend them for routine administration.

Such actions would include COVID-19 vaccines under VCIP coverage.

It’s also possible Congress could make a new program just for COVID-19 vaccine injury or death compensation.