Since Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson can't be sued for injuries caused by their Covid vaccines, victims need a reliable system in order to be compensated for those injuries.
That system in the United States is broken, according to Tara Haelle, an independent science and health writer. In an article for National Geographic, Haelle outlined major flaws in existing vaccine injury compensation programs.
Haelle interviewed several people injured by the Covid vaccines.
Jessica McFadden, a 44-year-old fundraising officer in Indiana, was hospitalized with thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome, or TTS, one week after getting the J&J shot. McFadden blasted the government for pushing so hard for everyone to get vaccinated while not pushing to compensate those who, like her, were harmed.
“It’s like [we’re] the cost of doing business in a pandemic,” she said.
McFadden said she has good health insurance but was still stuck with a bill for more than $7,000 for a five-day hospital stay. She also missed two weeks of work not covered by sick leave.
Cody Robinson, a 36-year-old stuntman from Atlanta who has won awards for his performances in two dozen films, was also injured by a Covid vaccine. After being infected with Covid in July 2021, Robinson said he didn’t see a reason to get vaccinated right away, but the Screen Actors Guild began allowing productions to require vaccines on set.
After losing several jobs worth more than $40,000 in wages, Robinson said he felt “strong-armed” by his industry. “It became clear to me that the message in the industry was, if you don’t get vaccinated, you ain’t working.”
Robinson developed multiple blood clots after his J&J jab, including one in his jugular vein. He’s now taking blood thinners and can’t do stunts, so he’s losing money — more than the wage cap of $50,000 established under the Countermeasure Injury Compensation Program (CICP), the government-run program for compensating people injured by Covid vaccines.
"If the government’s going to force you to do something, they should provide compensation if they’re screwing you over," Robinson said.
In the case of injuries from Covid vaccines, Haelle reported that the CICP has not yet compensated a single claim, though it did approve one. In contrast, Thailand has paid more than $45 million in Covid vaccine injury claims.
The CICP doesn’t even have an injury table for Covid vaccines, according to Haelle. As a result, very few paid claims are paid and the public has little trust in the system.
Walter Orenstein, associate director of the Emory Vaccine Center in Atlanta, told Haelle: “Vaccination is not a per-individual benefit, it’s for societal benefit, and when someone is injured by that vaccine, I think society owes that individual compensation.”
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