RFK Jr. vows to fix “heartless” vaccine injury program that denies compensation to thousands of injured Americans
By isabelle // 2025-07-30
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  • HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. condemns the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) as a rigged system that denies justice to victims while shielding pharmaceutical companies.
  • The VICP has paid only $5.4 billion to 12,000 claimants, rejecting most due to high proof standards, legal delays, and alleged corruption.
  • Victims face biased "special masters," no discovery rights, and strict time limits, making compensation nearly impossible.
  • Kennedy exposes corruption, including DOJ concealing key autism-vaccine testimony, while experts describe the system as a "game of roulette."
  • Reforms aim to end Big Pharma’s legal immunity and restore fair compensation, with bipartisan support growing for accountability.
For decades, the U.S. government has operated a rigged system that denies justice to thousands of Americans injured by vaccines while protecting pharmaceutical giants from financial liability. Now, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is taking aim at the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), calling it a "very heartless system designed to deny vaccine injury" and vowing sweeping reforms to hold both the program and vaccine manufacturers accountable. In a scathing post on X and an interview with commentator Charlie Kirk, Kennedy exposed how the VICP, which was created in 1986 to compensate victims of vaccine injuries, has instead become a bureaucratic nightmare that prioritizes protecting the HHS Trust Fund over helping suffering families. Since its inception, the program has paid out $5.4 billion to just 12,000 claimants—fewer than half of those who filed—while countless others were dismissed due to impossibly high proof standards, legal delays, and outright corruption.

A system rigged against victims

The VICP was established under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, a law that granted vaccine manufacturers total immunity from lawsuits. Instead, injured Americans must petition the so-called "Vaccine Court," where cases are decided by government-appointed "special masters" who are often former DOJ lawyers with clear biases favoring the system. Kennedy blasted the program’s structure, noting that claimants face the "bottomless pockets" of the U.S. government rather than the vaccine makers themselves. "There is no discovery, and the rules of evidence do not apply," he wrote. "The government lawyers do not allow children’s attorneys access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink," a taxpayer-funded CDC database that could prove injuries. Worse, the program imposes a crushing statute of limitations: Claims must be filed within three years of the first symptom or two years of death. This is a nearly impossible hurdle for families who often don’t connect their child’s autism, seizures, or autoimmune disorders to vaccinations until years later.

Corruption and cover-ups

Kennedy accused the VICP of operating with "favoritism and outright corruption," citing cases where Special Masters slow-walked cases for over a decade while slashing fees for victims’ attorneys and experts. "Expert witnesses for injured children complain that they suffer intimidation and even threats that they will lose professional status or NIH funding if they testify," he revealed. One of the most egregious examples involves Rolf Hazlehurst, whose son Yates developed autism after routine vaccinations. In 2018, evidence emerged that the Department of Justice concealed testimony from its own star witness, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman, who privately admitted vaccines could cause autism in some cases. Instead of disclosing this, DOJ lawyers removed Zimmerman and continued using his outdated statements to deny thousands of families compensation. "The government has decided that this particular industry gets a free pass," said Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) during a recent Senate hearing on vaccine injuries. Even staunch vaccine advocate Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) conceded it was time to revisit Big Pharma’s liability shield.

Big Pharma’s immunity must end

The VICP was born out of crisis. In the 1980s, lawsuits revealed that Wyeth (now Pfizer) knew its DTP vaccine caused seizures and brain damage in children. Facing bankruptcy from jury payouts, the industry lobbied Congress for protection, resulting in a system where victims are forced into a Kafkaesque legal maze while manufacturers enjoy zero accountability. Wayne Rohde, a vaccine injury compensation expert, told The Defender that today’s vaccine schedules—packing seven to nine antigens into single shots—are causing complex autoimmune disorders like POTS and Guillain-Barré syndrome, which take years to diagnose. Yet the VICP routinely dismisses these claims. "It’s like a game of roulette," Rohde said, in which the Special Master you get determines if you're compensated instead of looking at the science. Kennedy’s reforms, developed with Attorney General Pam Bondi, aim to restore the VICP’s original mandate: swift, fair compensation for victims. Meanwhile, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has reintroduced the End the Vaccine Carveout Act, which would strip manufacturers of legal immunity and allow injured Americans to sue.

A long-overdue reckoning

For too long, the U.S. government has gaslit parents, silenced doctors, and buried data to protect the vaccine industry’s profits. Kennedy’s push for transparency and justice marks a turning point that could finally force accountability for the pharmaceutical giants who have profited from a broken system. As Kennedy declared, "We can’t marginalize and vilify the doctors and de-license the doctors who report injuries. We can’t punish and retract articles by the scientists who document those injuries. We have to start being honest again with the American public.” The VICP’s days of corruption may finally be numbered. Sources for this article include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org X.com Reuters.com
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