Will Walters and Richard Hughes, attorneys and health care policy experts at Epstein Becker & Green, P.C., said on April 23 that a recent decline in anti-vaccine rhetoric should not be interpreted as a lasting shift in federal vaccine policy.
“This lull in anti-vaccine rhetoric and action should not be mistaken for a durable pivot in federal vaccine policy,” Walters and Hughes said in a joint statement. “It is a cynical, political pause: the eye of a storm shaped more by electoral timing than public health strategy. We are likely to be in for a rude awakening once the political incentives to remain quiet disappear. The storm has not passed.”
Walters and Hughes represent plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit challenging recent vaccine policy changes at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). They argue the changes point to broader shifts in how vaccine policy is being shaped, including the role of financial interests tied to vaccine-related lawsuits.
One recent policy change highlights some of those concerns.
On April 6, HHS posted an updated charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a group that helps guide vaccine recommendations. The update places greater emphasis on monitoring vaccine side effects and adds four organizations that have promoted debunked claims linking vaccines to autism. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the changes reflect proposals from an anti-vaccine organization tied to an agency adviser.
The attorneys also raised concerns about possible conflicts of interest.
Federal filings and court records show that a personal attorney advising HHS leadership had more than 100 cases pending before the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program while also helping shape vaccine policy and review candidates for agency roles. Reporting by KFF Health News found the attorney’s firm could benefit financially if vaccine injury claims increase or legal protections for manufacturers are weakened.
The situation mirrors past cases where lawsuits affected vaccine availability.
The Lyme disease vaccine LYMErix was approved by the FDA but was pulled from the market in 2002 after lawsuits made it too costly to continue selling. No plaintiffs ultimately received compensation, but trial lawyers collected more than $1 million in fees, according to published accounts. Today, about 476,000 Americans get Lyme disease each year, and there is still no vaccine available, according to the CDC.
The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, run by the Health Resources and Services Administration, provides compensation to people who may have been harmed by vaccines without requiring them to go through lengthy and expensive lawsuits. Since 1988, it has paid out more than $5.4 billion to claimants.
Many health policy experts share concerns about changes to the program. A survey by Cornell University found that 78% said weakening it would likely reduce investment in developing new vaccines.
