() Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced he is going to reform the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, also known as the vaccine court. It compensates children who are the victims of injuries related to vaccines via a federal fund that receives money from a surcharge on every vaccine. Vaccine makers were given immunity. 

“The VICP is broken, and I intend to fix it. I will not allow the VICP to continue to ignore its mandate and fail its mission of quickly and fairly compensating vaccine-injured individuals,” Kennedy posted on X.

Kennedy said that to date, the vaccine court has paid out $5.4 billion to 12,000 petitioners.

“But the VICP no longer functions to achieve its Congressional intent. Instead, the VICP has devolved into a morass of inefficiency, favoritism, and outright corruption as government lawyers and the Special Masters who serve as Vaccine Court judges prioritize the solvency of the HHS Trust Fund, over their duty to compensate victims. The structure itself hobbles claimants. The defendant is HHS, not the vaccine makers; and claimants are therefore facing the monumental power and bottomless pockets of the U.S. government represented by the Department of Justice,” Kennedy wrote.  “I will not allow the VICP to continue to ignore its mandate and fail its mission of quickly and fairly compensating vaccine-injured individuals.”

It’s Kennedy’s latest reform in how the country regulates vaccines. He replaced the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which recommends vaccine guidance. That panel recently voted to stop recommending flu shots with thimerosal.