By Jessica Boehm
WASHINGTON – When Phoenix nurse Tarah Gramza realized that her daughter’s autoimmune disorder may have been caused by a vaccine, she looked into suing the vaccine manufacturer.
Then she learned that the government won’t let her.
Instead, Gramza is beginning what could be a years-long legal battle with the U.S. government, trying to get an infinitesimal slice of the $3.5 billion fund set aside to compensate people who have adverse reactions to vaccines.
Gramza, like most Americans, had never heard of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program – the trust fund that’s financed by a 75-cent tax on each dose of vaccines that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends for children.
The program started in the 1980s after a number of vaccine manufacturers threatened to pull out of the United States in the face of a growing number of lawsuits.
In order to protect the vaccine supply, and keep the majority of Americans immune to possibly devastating disease, Congress pledged to protect the manufacturers from lawsuits.
But some say that solution – the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program – is not living up to its promises. It’s complicated, litigious and time-consuming – and often ends without any compensation at all.
“There’s no part of it that’s easy,” said Renee Gentry, president of the Vaccine Injured Petitioners Bar Association. “It’s knock-down, drag-out fighting at every step.”…