Federal Financial Settlements Proves Vaccine Harm

[MikeG]

http://www.naturalnews.com/2017-05-...se-claim-that-vaccines-never-harm-anyone.html

Mike Adams is basically claiming that settlements obtained from a federal program are evidence of the pervasive threat posed by vaccinations. It is a claim debunked by his own faulty assumptions, existing policy, and statistics.

Adams derived his article from a Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Monthly Statistics Report on the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. (attached) According to Adams:

The document reveals that a shocking 633 petitions for serious vaccine injury or death have been filed in fiscal year 2017. This follows 1,120 petitions that were filed in 2016.

The number of petitions filed is a tiny fraction of the total number of children who are seriously harmed by vaccine injuries, as doctors aggressively brainwash parents into believing that seizures, convulsions, autism and other serious conditions are never caused by vaccines. Furthermore, families of vaccine-injured children must hire an attorney to file a petition with the U.S. government, then wait anywhere from two to ten years for a decision by a “kangaroo court” that’s stacked against them. Thus, in nearly all cases of vaccine injury, parents are convinced into either believing that vaccines had nothing to do with the injury or that trying to fight the government for compensation is a complete waste of time. (This is all by design.)

As a result, the real number of vaccine-injured children in America is at least 100 times larger, and more reasonably as much as 1000 times larger when you consider “minor” brain damage, short-term seizures and other conditions that are difficult for parents to notice.

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It is interesting what Adams extrapolates from this information:

In other words, there are at least 63,000 vaccine-injured children in America from 2017 alone, making vaccine injuries a leading cause of injury in children. This is all hidden and denied by the pharma-controlled media, of course, which wants you to focus on 48 children with measles in Michigan rather than 63,000 vaccine-injured children all across America.

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First, take note of the fact that Adams simply invented the “100 times larger” estimate and ran with it. The 63,000 vaccine-injured children are a straw man.

Second, no one ever claims vaccines are harmless. The influenza vaccine is listed in the report as having one of the highest incidence of petitions. The CDC website offers a series of health warnings for people considering the vaccine.

https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/whoshouldvax.htm#flu-shot

I didn’t review every other vaccine, but I think the same protocols exists for them.

Third, adverse reactions to immunizations do rarely occur. How rarely? The same HHS report cited by Adams actually answers that:

How many petitions have been awarded compensation?

According to the CDC, from 2006 to 2015 over 2.8 billion doses of covered vaccines were distributed in the U.S. For petitions filed in this time period, 4,426 petitions were adjudicated by the Court, and of those 2,884 were compensated. This means for every 1 million doses of vaccine that were distributed, 1 individual was compensated.

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Mike Adams is indulging in unsubstantiated hysteria, not actual facts.

 

[deirdre]

If any one bothers to read his link to the PDF they can see the bunk. (attached in Opening Post)

What does it mean to be awarded compensation?

Being awarded compensation for a petition does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the alleged injury. In fact:

• Almost 80 percent of all compensation awarded by the VICP comes as result of a negotiated settlement between the parties in which HHS has not concluded, based upon review of the evidence, that the alleged vaccine(s) caused the alleged injury.

• Attorneys are eligible for reasonable attorneys’ fees, whether or not the petitioner is awarded compensation by the Court, if certain minimal requirements are met. In those circumstances, attorneys are paid by the VICP directly. By statute, attorneys may not charge any other fee, including a contingency fee, for his or her services in representing a petitioner in the VICP.

What reasons might a petition result in a negotiated settlement?

• Consideration of prior U.S. Court of Federal Claims decisions, both parties decide to minimize risk of loss through settlement


• A desire to minimize the time and expense of litigating a case

• The desire to resolve a petition quickly

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So on average less than a third of the petitions have been awarded compensation.

 

[MikeG]

If any one bothers to read his link to the PDF they can see the bunk. (attached in Opening Post)

What does it mean to be awarded compensation?

Being awarded compensation for a petition does not necessarily mean that the vaccine caused the alleged injury. In fact:

• Almost 80 percent of all compensation awarded by the VICP comes as result of a negotiated settlement between the parties in which HHS has not concluded, based upon review of the evidence, that the alleged vaccine(s) caused the alleged injury.

• Attorneys are eligible for reasonable attorneys’ fees, whether or not the petitioner is awarded compensation by the Court, if certain minimal requirements are met. In those circumstances, attorneys are paid by the VICP directly. By statute, attorneys may not charge any other fee, including a contingency fee, for his or her services in representing a petitioner in the VICP.

What reasons might a petition result in a negotiated settlement?

• Consideration of prior U.S. Court of Federal Claims decisions, both parties decide to minimize risk of loss through settlement


• A desire to minimize the time and expense of litigating a case

• The desire to resolve a petition quickly


So on average less than a third of the petitions have been awarded compensation.

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But who actually bothers to read?

That is one of the most annoying parts of any conspiracy theory that I find online.

Once you actually read, the half-life of the conspiracy is usually pretty short.

 

[Dan Wilson]

It's also a question of how serious the events that caused the petition were. For example, in 1976 there was a massive flu scare. Scientists had predicted an extremely virulent flu strain that year, causing the Carter administration to launch a national vaccination initiative offering compensation for any complications as incentive to get vaccinated. As it turned out, scientists were wrong and flu strain that year essentially flopped and nothing out of the ordinary happened. Yet, about 45 million flu vaccines were given in a period of just 10 weeks and adverse health effects, coincident or causal, were allowed compensation.
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/12/1/05-1007_article

Soon, however, NIIP received the first of 2 crippling blows to hopes to immunize "every man, woman, and child." The first was later in 1976, when instead of boxes of bottled vaccine, the vaccine manufacturers delivered an ultimatum—that the federal government indemnify them against claims of adverse reactions as a requirement for release of the vaccines. The government quickly capitulated to industry's demand for indemnification. While the manufacturers' ultimatum reflected the trend of increased litigiousness in American society, its unintended, unmistakable subliminal message blared "There's something wrong with this vaccine." This public misperception, warranted or not, ensured that every coincidental health event that occurred in the wake of the swine flu shot would be scrutinized and attributed to the vaccine.

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It was a mess. The most serious adverse effect reported was Guillain-Barre Syndrome.
https://www.cdc.gov/flu/protect/vaccine/guillainbarre.htm

Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rare disorder in which a person’s own immune system damages their nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis. GBS can cause symptoms that usually last for a few weeks. Most people recover fully from GBS, but some people have long-term nerve damage. In very rare cases, people have died of GBS, usually from difficulty breathing. In the United States, for example, an estimated 3,000 to 6,000 people develop GBS each year on average, whether or not they received a vaccination.

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With the vaccinations in 1976, cases thought to be linked to the flu shots were covered heavily by the media. Now, the link is still not 100% clarified as real or not real but the CDC has this to say about it:

In 1976 there was a small increased risk of GBS following vaccination with an influenza vaccine made to protect against a swine flu virus. The increased risk was approximately 1 additional case of GBS per 100,000 people who got the swine flu vaccine. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) conducted a thorough scientific review of this issue in 2003 and concluded that people who received the 1976 swine influenza vaccine had an increased risk for developing GBS. Scientists have multiple theories on why this increased risk may have occurred, but the exact reason for this association remains unknown.

The link between GBS and flu vaccination in other years is unclear, and if there is any risk for GBS after seasonal flu vaccines it is very small, about one in a million.

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The point is, the details of the cases matter more than how many are reported.