Democrats Say RFK Jr.’s Plan To Make Vaccine Lawsuits Easier Could Enrich His Family

A group of Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren say Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is making it easier to sue pharmaceutical companies in a move that could create vaccine shortages while enriching his family.They want answers from Mr. Kennedy about a proposed overhaul of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, including changes that would make it easier to sue pharmaceutical companies over injuries that may not be tied to vaccines.Mr. Kennedy has a long history of vaccine litigation and has referred hundreds of cases to the law firm Wisner Baum, which is suing Merck over its HPV vaccine Gardasil. Mr. Kennedy is entitled to a 10-percent finders’ fee from any award earned in those cases.Senator Warren questioned Mr. Kennedy about those fees during his confirmation process, calling them a clear conflict of interest. After initially saying he planned to keep those fees, he eventually stated he would hand over the fees to one of his sons. He didn’t name who that would be but one of his sons, Conor Kennedy, is a lawyer at Wisner Baum.In a letter sent this week, Ms. Warren, along with Senators Richard Blumenthal, Ed Markey, and Angela Alsobrooks, pressed Mr. Kennedy on his proposed overhaul of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and how his family and close allies might profit from those changes.In June, Mr. Kennedy appointed a longtime ally and vaccine court litigator, Drew Downing, to oversee changes to the program. The senators acknowledge the program has a significant backlog and damage caps that have not been updated since the 1980s but say any reforms should be transparent and help the program.The senators cite a report claiming that the overhaul “could create a surge in vaccine injury litigation, potentially bankrupt VICP, and funnel vaccine injury cases to civil court.”The letter says proposed changes call for expanding the list of eligible vaccine injuries “based on debunked science” while removing certain vaccines from the program’s jurisdiction so that suits could be brought in civil court. Some new conditions that the letter indicates could be covered include autism, ADHD, and peanut allergies, though there is no established link between them and vaccines.The compensation program was set up in the 1980s as a no-fault alternative to the traditional legal system for resolving vaccine injury claims. It was created after lawsuits against vaccine companies and health care providers threatened to create vaccine shortages and reduce American vaccination rates.“You appear to be undertaking a dangerous backroom overhaul of the vaccine courts that is hidden from public scrutiny and raises significant conflict of interest concerns,” the senators wrote.“The direct financial stake your family and Wisner Baum may have in pending vaccine litigation casts a cloud over any changes you may make to VICP,” they added.The senators asked Mr. Kennedy to submit answers to a list of 10 detailed questions about the compensation program by February 10.In response to a request for comment by The New York Sun, a Health and Human Services press secretary, Emily Hilliard, said, “HHS will respond directly to the Senators. The Secretary is focused on restoring the Vaccine Court to its original Congressional intent: that injured children be compensated quickly and fairly for injuries either presumed or proven to be caused by vaccines.”

Democrats Say RFK Jr.’s Plan To Make Vaccine Lawsuits Easier Could Enrich His Family

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