Doctors: Vaccine Compensation Bill Only Half a Solution

3/27/2003

From: Kathryn Serkes, 202-333-3855 or kaserkes@att.net Web: www.aapsonline.org

WASHINGTON, March 27 -- The Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), Jane M. Orient, M.D., issued the following statement of support for legislation introduced by Rep. Dan Burton to reform the VICP:

"We support Rep. Burton's bill to reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, but it is only half a solution to the bigger problem.

"Many children have been injured as a result of immunizations, most of them administered because of various government mandates. The best we can do to repair the harm that has been done is to compensate those who were injured by our mandatory vaccine policy. That's only fair.

"Rep. Burton's bill will go a long way to correct the flawed program, including a 'look-back' provision that would allow children injured before 1997 to file a claim with the program.

"But this is a stop gap solution.

"Until we acknowledge the fact that injuries have occurred, we are unlikely to take the necessary steps to develop safer vaccines, to insist on fully informed consent, and to research the mechanisms for vaccine injuries and ways to screen children who are likely to suffer them.

"AAPS acknowledges that vaccines can and do save lives. But not every vaccine is right for every child, and the decision to immunize should be made by parents with the advice of their doctors -- not by a government edict or school district bureaucrat as a condition of attendance. In 2000, AAPS members voted unanimously to oppose all vaccine mandates.

"Fair compensation for those children and families already injured is the right thing to do. But now let's turn our attention to keeping the numbers of children hurt in the future to a minimum. All vaccine mandates must be banned."

NOTE: To read the resolution and AAPS article showing a link between childhood vaccines and autism, see www.aapsonline.org.

------ AAPS is a non-partisan, professional association of physicians in all specialties, dedicated since 1943 to preservation of the patient-physician relationship from third-party intrusion.