HHS Fights Access to Compensation for Patients with COVID Vaccine Injuries

Jeanne Materese suffered a severe adverse reaction to a COVID vaccination. If she had been injured by the flu vaccine, she would be able to seek compensation under a federal compensation system for vaccine injuries. Unfortunately, she cannot as the COVID vaccine is excluded from the compensation system. One reason she is barred from compensation is because HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has not listed the COVID vaccine on a table making it eligible for compensation.

At the center of her case is a simple question: has RFK followed the law when it comes to how vaccine injury claims are supposed to be handled? According to the Matarese, the answer is NO.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. built a career speaking out for families of children injured by vaccines. Now his agency is accused of blocking access to the system meant to help them. Why hasn’t HHS followed the laws established by the Vaccine Act for COVID vaccines?

A Law Meant to Protect People Who Experience Vaccine Injuries

The Vaccine Act of 1986 created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) which has paid out billions of dollars to individuals harmed by covered vaccines. The VICP is meant to give people a more accessible path than traditional lawsuits.

But for Jeanne Materese and those like her, that path is a dead end. 

Her case argues that the HHS Secretary has failed to take a required step of adding COVID vaccines to the Vaccine Injury Table. Without that step, those injured by COVID adverse reactions are barred from seeking compensation through the VICP.

Where HHS Gets It Wrong, According to the Response

The response filed on Materese’s behalf outlines the key ways HHS is misinterpreting the law.

First, the Vaccine Act says the Secretary “shall” add vaccines to the table within two years of being recommended for routine use in children. Materese’s attorneys argue that this is a firm deadline, not a suggestion. That deadline has long passed with no action taken.

Second, HHS claims it cannot act without going through rulemaking. Materese’s response says that is not accurate. Under the law, rulemaking is required for adding injury conditions, but not for adding the vaccine itself. That distinction matters because it means the delay is not required; it is a choice by HHS. HHS could have timely begun the rulemaking and complied with the Vaccine Act requirements, but it did not do so. 

Third, HHS argues that adding the COVID vaccine would not immediately help those injured. The response says that argument is besides the point. Even if compensation is not immediate, adding the vaccine would trigger legal protections that keep claims from expiring.

Risk of Losing the Chance to File a COVID Vaccine Injury Claim in the VICP

For Jeanne Materese and all those injured by serious adverse reactions to the COVID vaccine, timing is critical.

The Vaccine Act includes a provision that protects claims for a limited period, but only after a vaccine is added to the Vaccine Injury Table. Until that happens, the clock keeps ticking.

That means those injured by COVID adverse reactions could lose their ability to ever file a claim, not because their case lacks merit, but because the HHS Secretary has not taken the required administrative steps.

Ms. Materese’s attorneys argue that this inaction by HHS is exactly the type of situation the law was designed to prevent.

HHS Challenges Right to Sue, Plaintiff Pushes Back Under Vaccine Act

HHS argues that Jeanne Materese does not have the right to bring this lawsuit. The response pushes back, asking if not her, who possibly can hold the Secretary to account? Her response points to a Vaccine Act provision that allows people to sue when the Secretary fails to carry out required duties.

Asking Secretary Kennedy to Follow the Law and Fix the Problem

Jeanne Materese is asking the court to deny HHS’s motion to throw her case out of court so she can move forward.

Her attorneys argue the issue is straightforward. The law sets a requirement. The deadline for that requirement has passed. And the court has the authority to require HHS to act.

The question now is simple: why isn’t HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. following the law and fixing the problem?

About mctlaw

mctlaw is a national law firm focused on representing individuals in vaccine injury compensation claims, medical product liability lawsuits, and other complex cases involving corporate and government accountability.