The vital vaccine shield America cannot afford to lose

For more than three decades the U.S. government has operated a federal program that pays claimants who suffer adverse outcomes linked to vaccinations. Since its creation in 1989, the program has disbursed in excess of $5.5 billion to individuals and families who pursued claims.

The program has been positioned as a public safety mechanism: by providing a compensation route separate from ordinary civil litigation, it aims to address harms associated with vaccines while managing legal and financial processes at the federal level. The fund’s existence and long-running payouts have made it a fixture of the nation’s vaccine policy infrastructure.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent public figure, has called for ending the program. His position would, if enacted, remove the federal compensation pathway that has been operating since 1989 and that has paid out the sums noted above.

Any proposal to terminate the program would therefore change how vaccine-related adverse events are handled in the United States, shifting responsibility away from the current federal framework. That prospect raises questions about where individuals who experience such harms would seek compensation and how the legal and administrative burdens might be redistributed.