This bill modernizes the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which provides financial compensation to people injured by vaccines. The legislation increases the minimum number of special masters who handle injury claims from 8 to 10, extends the statute of limitations for filing claims from three years to five years, and increases maximum compensation awards for vaccine-related deaths and pain and suffering from $250,000 to $600,000 (with automatic adjustments for inflation in future years). The bill also directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to add COVID-19 vaccines to the federal Vaccine Injury Table within 60 days and to transfer all pending COVID-19 vaccine injury claims from a separate compensation program to the main Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Additionally, the bill requires the Secretary to submit a budget outlining resource needs for both vaccine injury programs for fiscal years 2024 through 2028, with specific attention to reducing claim processing backlogs and improving claim processing times.
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