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Compensation plan needed to offset smallpox vaccine risks

Physicians and others have suggested that a federal program be developed to provide no-fault coverage for adverse reactions.

By Susan J. Landers, amednews staff. Jan. 13, 2003.

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Washington -- It's a given that the smallpox vaccine carries risks for those who receive it, their family members and close contacts. In addition there are legal risks for those who administer it.

Liability and compensation issues still swirl around President Bush's plan for a voluntary vaccination program for members of the military, emergency personnel, physicians and other health care workers.

Although the Homeland Security Act offers protection from liability for doctors who will be providing the inoculations, those protections raise concerns over compensation for those injured by the vaccine.

If private insurers decline coverage because the smallpox vaccine was administered as part of a military action, health care might not even be covered, notes attorney Edward P. Richards, in an online discussion of the vaccine. Richards is the director of the Program in Law, Science and Public Health at Louisiana State University School of Law in Baton Rouge.

American Public Health Assn. Executive Director Georges Benjamin, MD, praises the Homeland Security Act for providing liability protection so the vaccination program can begin, but he also faults the law for failing to provide a compensation mechanism for individuals' costs that could result from the serious adverse reactions associated with the vaccine.

Adequate access to health care for those who have severe reactions to the vaccine needs to be a part of the law, said Dr. Benjamin. "We think Congress still has a little bit more work to do to make sure those things happen."