Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund

The third policy, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Fund, introduced a government-run, no-fault product liability system that reduced the mean and variance of product liability costs associated with four childhood vaccines polio, diphtheria-tetanus, measles-mumps-rubella, and pertussis. 

Compensation for vaccines administered before October 1, 1988 comes from appropriated funds which have averaged 80 million per year since Congress first funded the program in fiscal year 1989 (Public Law 100-436). A tax added to the cost of each vaccine funds aNational Vhccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund, which pays damages awarded for vaccines administered offer October 1, 1988. The tax rate is set according 10 evidence about the frequency and expected damages associated with each type of vaccine (169). 

A possible solution might be to follow the example of the National Vaccine Injury Act of October 1988, where a trust fund was set up derived from an excise tax imposed on each vaccine. The funds, through an arbitration panel, are used to compensate persons injured by vaccination. It should be noted that a Drugs in Pregnancy Registry has been set up to follow up early embryonic exposure to the anticonvulsants and antiviral drugs... 

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