Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

1. What is a vaccine injury?

We are here to explain that you are not alone. Rarely, vaccines can cause injuries. If you are reading this document then you are either curious about vaccine injuries, or suffered, or know someone who suffered, from a vaccine injury. Sadaka Law is here to help.

First, the three most common types of vaccine injuries are injuries to the shoulder or arm, nerves, or blood.

1. Injuries to the shoulder or arm

By far the most common type of vaccine injury is an injury to the shoulder or arm. The two most common injuries are (1) SIRVA (shoulder injury as a result of vaccine administration) and (2) brachial neuritis.

SIRVA

What is SIRVA? Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration is a wound to the upper arm or shoulder caused by a misplaced vaccine injection. It typically happens when the needle penetrates too deep or too high up in the shoulder muscle, but SIRVA may also occur after the proper administration of an injection.

Brachial Neuritis

Brachial Neuritis is a type of peripheral neuropathy affecting the nerves in the brachial plexus in humans. Peripheral neuropathy is a disease that manifests through pain or loss of function in the nerves that carry signals between the central nervous system and the rest of the body. In brachial neuritis, the nerve damage occurs in the brachial plexus, an area between the spinal cord and the shoulder, arms, and hands.

While SIRVA and brachial neuritis are the most common types of injuries to the shoulder or arm, Sadaka Law has successfully handled claims of injuries to the arm from blood clots and other types of injuries.

2. Injuries to the nerves

The most common type of vaccine injury to the nerves is a condition called Guillain-Barre Syndrome or GBS. GBS is one of 4 types of nerve damage caused by the flu shot. GBS can be caused by other vaccines too.

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS)

Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a rare disease that attacks the immune system and damages nerve cells. The damage disrupts signals between the affected nerves and the brain. It may lead to pain, weakness, or numbness in the limbs connected to these damaged nerves.

While GBS is the most common type of vaccine injury to the nerves, Sadaka Law has successfully handled claims of many neurological injuries, including CIDP, ADEM, Multiple Sclerosis (MS), and narcolepsy.

3. Injuries to the blood

The most common type of vaccine injury to the blood is a condition called idiopathic thrombocytopenia or ITP for short. ITP is a condition that comes from when a person has a lot of bruising or bleeding because the body has trouble forming clots. In this case, the body is attacking the platelet cells causing clotting problems.

While ITP is the most common type of vaccine injury to the blood, Sadaka Law has successfully handled many claims of Evan’s Syndrome, Lupus, and even Lymphoma.

2. What steps you should take if you are injured by a vaccine

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Step One: Call Your Doctor

The first step sounds simple, but it is important to report your vaccine injury to your doctor. Some vaccine injuries may require immediate medical attention and the longer you wait the greater the risk of serious injury.

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Step Two: Report the Vaccine Injury to VAERS

Can vaccines cause injury?

The only way to answer this hotly debated question starts when people report their vaccine injury to the government’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.

VAERS is a program developed by the CDC and the FDA to track vaccine related injuries. If you suffered a vaccine related injury, then you need to report your injury to VAERS. Reporting vaccine injuries to VAERS is the only way we will ever find out if vaccines can cause injury.

Before filing a report, sit down and write a list of every symptom you are experiencing:

Are you suffering from chronic headaches?
Are you experiencing intense shoulder pain?
Do your arms or legs feel weak?

Think about every symptom; every negative impact the vaccine has had on you. It is important to know the details of your symptoms when you report the vaccine injury to VAERS.

After you complete your list of symptoms, report your vaccine injury online to the VAERS website (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) (hhs.gov). If you have trouble filling out the form, call us and we can help.

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Step Three: file a vaccine injury compensation claim

Vaccine injury claims are like a personal injury claim. A personal injury claim is filed with the insurance company before any lawsuit is considered. The claims process is a series of negotiations between the injured party and the insurance company’s claims adjuster. Hopefully, the negotiations result in a compromised settlement payment, where both parties are satisfied.

Unfortunately, if the negotiation process between the injured party and the insurance company’s claims adjuster breaks down—and a compromise can’t be reached—then a personal injury lawsuit will be filed. A breakdown may occur if the claims adjuster denies that their insured was at-fault or doesn’t agree with the severity of the injured party’s injuries and the monetary amount they’re demanding. When claim negotiations hit a wall, the next step is a lawsuit.

Although they are similar, there are some key differences between vaccine Injury claims and standard personal injury lawsuits. For instance, if you’re injured by an individual driving a vehicle, you can file a personal injury lawsuit in your local court. However, if you are injured by a vaccine, you must file your claim with the vaccine court located in Washington D.C.

Any lawyer that’s licensed to practice in your state can represent you in a personal injury lawsuit. With a vaccine injury claim, you can only be represented by a lawyer that’s admitted into the vaccine court.

In a vaccine injury claim, the manufacturer of the vaccine that caused the injury is not part of the claim. In the Vaccine Injury Court, the government steps in for the drug companies that manufacture the vaccines.

If the person injured by a vaccine is not satisfied with the result of the claims process, he or she can elect to file a lawsuit against the vaccine manufacturer.

Vaccine Injury Claims are FILED in the United States Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C.

Vaccine injury claims REQUIRE a lawyer admitted to the vaccine court.

You only have 3 YEARS to file your claim.
2 YEARS of the death and not longer than 4 years of the first symptom.

The vaccine injury compensation process:

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Step 1. Was your injury caused by a vaccine?

The first step in the VICP is the process of determining whether the injured person (claimant) is entitled to compensation. Establishing entitlement in Vaccine Injury cases means establishing that it is more likely than not that the vaccine caused the claimants injury. This is a legal principle called “causation”. Causation can be established by answering “yes” to the following two questions:

Can the vaccine cause the type of injury that is being claimed? If yes, move onto question 2.
Did the vaccine cause the claimant’s injury in this specific case? If yes, then you have established causation and likely entitlement.

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Step 2. Damages

Once entitlement is established the next step is determining the number of damages. Damages can include compensation for past and future medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

3. How Sadaka Law can help you

Sadaka Law has the strength, compassion, and experience to help vaccine injured people through one of the most trying times in their lives. We have over 16 years of experience and represented over 350 people in the vaccine injury compensation program and recovered millions for our clients.

We have the experience in handling complex matters and making innovative arguments. We can help guide you through the vaccine injury process to get the closure you need.

We helped people all over the country get compensation and the health care they need:

Recovery: $3,000,000.00 settlement for Vaccine Injury

$3 million confidential settlement in which a 42-year-old executive and father of two suffered a debilitating nerve condition after receiving the influenza vaccine.

Recovery: $750,000 settlement for Vaccine Injury

Estimated $750,000 + total settlement, including $257,280 lump sum award and an annuity contract, for adult male who suffered from chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy after receiving an influenza vaccine.

Recovery: $250,000 verdict for death related to Vaccine Injury

Full death benefit allowed under the VICP, $250,000.00, awarded for the death of a 21-year-old girl who suffered cardiac arrhythmia as a result of Gardasil.

Recovery: $250,000 settlement for Vaccine Injury

$250,000 settlement for adult male who suffered from brachial neuritis after receiving influenza, Tdap, meningococcal, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, IPV, and MMR vaccines.

Recovery: $225,000 settlement for Vaccine Injury

$225,000 settlement for minor female who suffered from hair loss, seborrheic dermatitis, and alopecia totalis after receiving HPV vaccines