Health officials are preparing a proposed rule that would identify COVID-19 vaccine injuries presumed eligible for review under a federal compensation program, as HHS says it is seeking clearer standards for people filing claims.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
The Department of Health and Human Services is preparing to create a formal injury table for COVID-19 vaccines that would help determine which side effects may qualify for federal financial compensation, according to a new proposed rule notice described by The Epoch Times.
HHS and one of its divisions said in a July 1 description that the proposed rule would establish a table of injuries under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, known as CICP. The table would apply to covered COVID-19 countermeasures, including COVID-19 vaccines.
“The Table will list and explain injuries that, based on compelling, reliable, valid, medical, and scientific evidence, are presumed to be caused by covered COVID-19 countermeasures, and set forth the time periods in which the onset of these injuries must occur after the administration or use of these covered COVID-19 countermeasures,” the rule summary stated.
The full proposed rule has not yet been made public. An HHS spokesperson said that more information will be available when the notice is published in the Federal Register.
COVID-19 vaccines are covered under the CICP because previous health secretaries declared and extended emergency declarations for COVID-19. Those declarations allowed emergency clearance of vaccines and other countermeasures under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who recently announced he was ending the emergency declaration, remains authorized under the declarations to provide benefits to people injured by vaccines under the act, HHS officials noted in the proposal summary.
“Under the leadership of Secretary Kennedy, HHS is restoring transparency and accountability because the American people deserve clear, evidence-based information about both the benefits and the known risks associated with medical countermeasures,” an HHS spokesperson told The Epoch Times in an email.
The proposal follows calls from Aaron Siri, Kennedy’s former lawyer, who wrote to Kennedy in 2025 urging him to create a COVID-19 vaccine-injury table. Siri cited the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act, which states that the health secretary “shall by regulation establish a table identifying covered injuries that shall be presumed to be directly caused by the administration or use of a covered countermeasure.”
Siri wrote on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, which advocates for government transparency and policy changes. He argued that a formal injury table would help people seeking compensation through the congressionally created program, which requires “compelling, reliable, valid, medical, and scientific evidence” that an injury was directly caused by a covered countermeasure.
The proposal drew mixed responses from people involved in vaccine policy and injury claims.
“A well-constructed injury table is needed for the CICP,” Richard Hughes IV, a former Moderna executive who is representing health groups in litigation against the administration over vaccine guidance changes, told The Epoch Times in an email. “The real question is whether this administration would promulgate such a table or weaponize it to further platform misinformation.”
Dr. Joel Wallskog, who said he suffered transverse myelitis and other health issues after COVID-19 vaccination and has sued the government over the CICP, told The Epoch Times that the proposal “is more appearance than substance.”
“It appears to do little more than streamline the process for the relatively small number of individuals whose injuries—primarily anaphylaxis and myocarditis/pericarditis—are already recognized under the current system,” said Wallskog, who is also co-chair of React19, a nonprofit that supports people who say they were injured by COVID-19 vaccines. “For everyone else who has been denied, nothing changes.”
Erica Samp, who says she was injured by a COVID-19 vaccine, said in a post on X that she supports the plan but is waiting to see the details, including which injuries would be covered.
The CICP is administered and adjudicated by HHS officials. The program has compensated some people who said COVID-19 vaccination caused health problems, while rejecting others, including people such as Wallskog, whom doctors diagnosed as having COVID-19 vaccine injuries, The Epoch Times previously reported.
Through June, the CICP had compensated 60 COVID-19 vaccine injury claims, nearly all involving myocarditis, a form of heart inflammation. The average payment was $4,000, apart from a few larger awards, and about 99 percent of applications have been rejected.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said in 2024 that COVID-19 vaccines definitely cause myocarditis and shoulder injuries, while other possible harms could not be conclusively linked to the shots.
Outside organizations, including React19, have said evidence supports links between COVID-19 vaccines and additional health problems.
The proposed injury table would create a clearer framework for claims if finalized, but the scope of covered injuries and the time windows for eligibility will determine how much the process changes for people seeking compensation.
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