Compensating Children with Vaccine-Related Injuries

The federal immunization program, by virtually all economic, medical, and political measures, is a stunning success story because of its record of protecting millions of children against the common infectious diseases of the young. But in recent years the program has come under a legal cloud that is threatening its stability, slowing the development of new vaccines, and sending vaccine prices sharply upward. To address these problems, Congress has created a new federal program to compensate children who suffer vaccine-related injuries, but how it will be funded and whether it will achieve its goals remain open questions.The legal cloud . . .