MrsTofu's Journal, 16 January 2014

I was curious about this and just looked into it- the compensation is funded by a surcharge per vaccine, paid by manufacturers. It gets put into a trust fund that is administered by HHS and DOJ and claims are paid out of that. Although in reality, I assume manufacturers just add it to the cost of the vaccine and pass it on to whoever pays(consumers or insurance companies). I guess it's good that you can file a claim without having to sue the manufacturer (and hire a lawyer and pay court fees) but it irks me that the manufacturers are really not out anything if they are doing something wrong. It's all based on a "no fault" principle, so even if a claim is paid, the manufacturer bears no responsibility. I had no idea any of this existed (and I WORK in health care!) so it's good that you're sharing the info. :-) 

Why is it that any other drug or procedure advertised in the media has to list the potential side effects in their commercials/campaigns, yet no one is informed as to the possible side effects when it comes to vaccinations...even though they are listed right in the manufacturers booklet? People are told they are perfectly safe when there is indeed risks. Our medical system is failing us and using scare tactics to manipulate. Once declared safe by doctors, experts, politicians, and scientists: asbestos, BPA, cigarettes, DDT, DES, Leaded gasoline, mercury fillings, thalidomine...QUESTION EVERYTHING! 

Thanks Nat! I don't know if it makes it any better that the comp fund is funded by the pharma companies. I agree the set up stinks. :-/ 

To play devil's advocate a little bit, I can see that identifying pathology is a process. However, I don't know what benchmarks drugs must meet in order to be sold. I don't know how soon after a drug or product is available for public release solid contraindications can be identified, or what frequency of those is needed before a product is pulled off the market. How much of these substances once declared safe being disseminated due to ignorance vs greed and exploitation, I don't know.  

There's a balance that has to be struck -too much regulation and you don't get new drugs and products on the market but not enough and you end up with the public assuming (or told outright) that things are safe, when there might be risks. Personally, I'd just there to be more transparency in all these processes and less involvement by the industries themselves for writing standards. As things stand now, a powerful lobby can water down any attempt to improve public safety, so that we end up with standards that are non-existent, easily bypassed, or aren't enforced. In general, people need to understand that ALL medicines and medical treatments have side effects- but the general idea is that the benefits outweigh the risks. Vaccines may come with some side effects, but the severe ones are rare and on balance, the benefits far outweigh the risks. Deaths from infectious disease are pretty rare, especially compared to what they were 100 years ago and vaccines are a HUGE part of that success story.  

Agreed. :) BTW, you mentioned working in healthcare. How so? (Just being nosy/ curious. :) ) 

I do health care contracting for the Defense Health Agency :-)