National Journal's CongressDaily
March 20, 2003

Lawmakers Vow To Stop Child Vaccination Program Changes

A bipartisan group of House members is vowing to try to block a bill introduced by Senate Majority Leader Frist that would make a series of changes to the program that compensates families of children injured by side effects of required vaccines.

But the bill unveiled Wednesday by Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., mirrors several provisions already in the Frist bill.

The controversy over Frist's bill, which originally was introduced last March to codify a series of 1999 advisory commission recommendations, exploded last December, when a single provision of the bill -- effectively nullifying lawsuits against makers of the mercury-based vaccine additive thimerosal -- was included at the last minute in the Homeland Security bill. After moderate Senate Republicans threatened to vote against the final version of that measure, they were promised it would be revisited early this year, and, in fact, it was repealed in the FY03 omnibus bill.

But that agreement also called for revisions to the vaccine program in general, and Frist said at the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee markup Wednesday that he wants to move the bill as soon as possible. The childhood vaccine provisions were originally in the bioterrorism bill the committee considered, but were removed when Democrats said they wanted more time to negotiate.

Burton, meanwhile, said at a news conference Wednesday that the Frist bill as written "would leave a lot of families out in the cold" for failing to file in time for compensation under the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Burton said many families either were not aware of the program, or else did not realize their children's autism might be linked to the presence of thimerosal in the vaccines.

Burton has introduced a bill that would extend from three years to six the time a family can file a claim under VICP. The bill would also raise compensation amounts and permit payment of attorney fees while claims are being considered.

"It's a question of fairness," said Burton, who attributes his own grandson's autism to a series of vaccines the child received.

Frist's bill, however, would also extend the filing time to six years and increase compensation amounts.

The key difference between the two is a provision in the Burton-Pallone bill that would allow families who claim their children's problems were caused by thimerosal anytime since 1988 to file for compensation.

A Frist aide said that unlike the provision in the homeland security bill, which only took rights away from those claiming injury, the provisions in the bill extending the filing time from three to six years would reach "the vast majority" of those who have filed lawsuits against thimerosal makers, including Eli Lilly and Co. A long list of health groups have endorsed the Frist bill.

Eli Lilly, meanwhile, also issued a statement backing the Frist bill, while continuing to maintain that the product it used to manufacture the vaccine additive has never been definitively linked to any health problems. By Julie Rovner