Smallpox Vaccine Victims Can Seek Payment

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White House - AP Cabinet & State

Smallpox Vaccine Victims Can

Seek Payment

Fri Dec 12,10:13 PM ET

WASHINGTON - Emergency response workers who

developed health

problems from smallpox vaccinations can seek

compensation from the

federal government, the Health and Human

Services (news - web sites)

Department said Friday.

More than 38,000 medical care workers,

police, firefighters and other

emergency responders have been vaccinated

against smallpox under an

emergency response plan that went into effect

last January. Officials

estimate that about 2 percent of those

vaccinated experienced some

sort of medical injury as a result.

Under rules announced Friday, those injured

by the smallpox vaccine will

be able to seek compensation from a $42

million program that provides

both financial and medical benefits.

Injuries covered under the program range from

skin reactions and

scarring around the inoculation site, to

brain inflammation, to heart

reactions to death. The final rules include a

detailed list of the covered

injuries.

The program also provides benefits for

persons who may have become ill

from contact with a vaccinated person, and

for the survivors of eligible

workers who died from injuries from the

smallpox vaccine.

The agency said it was making special efforts

to let everyone who was

vaccinated against smallpox know about the

compensation program.

The regulations go into effect next Tuesday

when they are published in

the Federal Register.

Claimants may download the required documents

and get other

information from a web site:

www.hrsa.gov/smallpoxinjury.