In 2021, the Merriam-Webster Dictionary selected “vaccine” as its word of the year, highlighting the word’s significance both as a medical term and as a cultural flashpoint. As the release of approved COVID-19 vaccines spurred hope for a return to pre-pandemic life or the “new normal,” some people researched vaccines’ development, funding, distribution and efficacy. Others focused on potential side effects. The existence of federal legislation governing compensation for certain vaccine injuries, however, went largely unnoticed.

Enacted in 1986, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (the Vaccine Act), 42. U.S.C. Sections 300aa-1 to 300aa-34, provides individuals claiming “vaccine-related injuries” with an administrative program of compensation outside the confines of traditional tort law. The Vaccine Act is also meant to protect vaccine manufacturers and administrators from high-priced and laborious litigation that might otherwise jeopardize the vaccine supply. See, e.g., Ashton v. Aventis Pasteur, 851 A.2d 908, 910 (Pa. Super. 2004). Accordingly, the Vaccine Act applies to actions asserting “vaccine-related injuries” against both vaccine manufacturers and health care providers who administered a covered vaccine. See 42 U.S.C. Section 300aa-11(a)(2)(A); see also, Harman v. Borah, 720 A.2d 1058 (Pa. Super. 1998) (holding patient who accepts compensation under the Vaccine Act may not bring civil action against physician who administered vaccine, and physician’s conduct in treating adverse reaction to vaccine is not severable from act of administering vaccine).

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