Medical groups sue RFK Jr., health department: ‘Current Covid-19 vaccine policies pose imminent threat to public health’

Published 6 days ago• 2 minute read

Several leading medical organizations on Monday filed a suit against the US Department of Health and Human Services and its Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., arguing that the current policies on Covid-19 vaccine pose an imminent threat to public health.

According to a Reuters report, the group has asked the court to vacate Kennedy's recent directive removing the Covid-19 vaccine from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) childhood and pregnant-women immunisation schedules.

The group includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, American College of Physicians, American Public Health Association, Infectious Diseases Society of America, and others, the report said.

Just a week ago, Kennedy Jr. had said that he plans to make substantial changes to a federal programme that compensates people who have serious side effects from vaccines and protects manufacturers from being sued.

“We just brought a guy in this week who is going to be revolutionising the Vaccine Injury Compensation Programme,” Kennedy said in an interview posted on the evening of June 30 with former Fox News star Tucker Carlson.

According to a Bloomberg report, Kennedy, the nation’s top health leader as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, didn’t offer details on the changes or the person who will be spearheading them. An HHS spokesman declined to offer more details on Kennedy’s comments.

Congress created the programme nearly four decades ago after a wave of lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers caused some to drop out of the business. The programme, which has a three-year statute of limitations, shields companies from most lawsuits and includes a fund that pays people who experience a serious reaction to a covered vaccine.

People who claim they were harmed by Covid shots aren’t eligible to file for compensation through the VICP. Instead they can file a claim with a different programme, called the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, which was designed for public health threats. It has more limited payouts and stricter standards, including a one-year statute of limitations, the report added.

The government is looking at ways to expand the VICP programme “so Covid vaccine-injured people can be compensated,” Kennedy said, without explaining how the administration plans to institute the changes that are normally overseen by Congress.

Origin: