Vulnerable Populations and Vaccine Injury Compensation: The Need for Legal Reform

Van Tassel, Katharine A.; Hoffman, Sharona

Vulnerable Populations and Vaccine Injury Compensation: The Need for Legal Reform

Forthcoming in COVID-19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact and Legacy (I. Glenn Cohen et al., eds. Cambridge University Press 2022)

Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-9

12 Pages Posted: 23 May 2021 Last revised: 24 May 2021

See all articles by Katharine A. Van Tassel

Katharine A. Van Tassel

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Sharona Hoffman

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Date Written: 2021

Abstract

This chapter argues that the potential for vaccine-related harms raises acute concerns for vulnerable populations. These harms have a disparate impact on low-income people, who are disproportionately non-White, and who have limited financial resources to obtain medical care, weather job losses, and pursue injury compensation. When a vaccine is given as a countermeasure during a declared public health emergency (PHE), the problem is acute because of the limited availability of injury compensation.

Keywords: COVID-19, vaccine injuries, vaccine injury compensation, Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), health disparities, vulnerable populations, vaccine hesitancy.

JEL Classification: K32

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Van Tassel, Katharine A. and Hoffman, Sharona, Vulnerable Populations and Vaccine Injury Compensation: The Need for Legal Reform (2021). Forthcoming in COVID-19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact and Legacy (I. Glenn Cohen et al., eds. Cambridge University Press 2022), Case Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2021-9, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3848676