When we take our children to get a vaccine to protect them from childhood diseases or receive a yearly flu shot during the winter, we don’t think that the vaccine will pose any danger. Vaccines are supported and endorsed by our doctors and offered in safe, sterile medical clinics, doctor’s offices, and pharmacies. They’re regulated like most of our medications and created by manufacturers that care about the safety of their products. How can they not be safe?
The answer to that question isn’t as simple as you may think. Yes, most vaccines are safe. The large majority of children and adults who get routine vaccinations don’t experience any negative side effects at all. There’s a small percentage, however, who do. Negative vaccine side effects vary significantly and range from mild to extremely severe. In the most severe cases, routine vaccines like the DTP vaccine or a tetanus or flu shot can cause debilitating heart conditions, anaphylactic shock, or even death.
Why does this happen? In most cases, lasting negative side effects (often referred to as vaccine injuries in legal terminology) are caused by an adverse reaction the vaccine causes. Each of our bodies are different and contain different chemical balances. When the antibodies of a vaccine mix with our body’s own antibodies, the results can be unpredictable. To help counter this natural reaction, vaccine manufacturers are held legally accountable to do everything they can to create formulas that are safe.
Holding Vaccine Manufacturers Accountable
Personal injury lawyers such as those who work for Urban & Taylor, S.C. help ensure drug manufacturers continually improve their products and work toward creating safer formulas that harm patients as little as possible. Civil lawsuits like medical malpractice lawsuits and dangerous drug lawsuits help hold drug manufacturers accountable while helping injured patients recover from conditions and incidents that weren’t their fault.
In the case of holding vaccine manufacturers accountable, the situation is quite different. During the 1980s, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) was created as an expedited, inexpensive alternative to civil court lawsuits and is now the primary means of enabling victims injured by vaccines to obtain compensation.
Vaccine injury lawsuits that are filed under this program are brought to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims instead of to separate state or federal courts. What this means is that these claims can be filed in any state at no cost to the victim.
About the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program covers most major vaccines. The most common include diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTP or DTaP), hepatitis A and B, influenza (yearly flu shots), haemophilus influenzae type b, measles, mumps, rubella, polio, meningococcal, varicella, and rotavirus.
If you or someone you love has had one of the above vaccinations and has experienced long lasting negative side effects that are serious in nature, you may be eligible to file a vaccine injury claim to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. If you’re not sure what side effects to look out for, here are some of the most common:
- Severe allergic reactions
- Stroke
- Heart attack
- Encephalopathy
- Anaphylactic shock
- Brain damage
- Seizure
- Coma
- Guillain Bare Syndrome (GBS) – This is a rare condition associated with the flu shot that attacks the victim’s immune system, causing muscle weakness and numbness in the extremities
- Prolonged soreness or stiffness in the shoulder
- Loss of vision
- Difficulty walking or moving
For more information about the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, see here. We also have a generalized vaccine injury lawsuit FAQ you may find informative.
Finding an Experienced Wisconsin Vaccine Injury Lawyer
Bringing a claim to court for a vaccine injury is often complicated. The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program makes it easy to file a claim in every U.S. state, but the process of doing so is still quite complex and involves a few legal hurdles you will need help with. You will need to hire a law firm that knows the details of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and has a proven record of success.
Urban & Taylor, S.C.’s Milwaukee, WI vaccine injury lawyer Scott B. Taylor is one of a small percentage of attorneys nationwide licensed in the United States of Federal Court of Claims. He has aggressively advocated for the innocent victims of vaccine-related injuries for nearly a decade and has a proven track record of success within the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
Although our offices are in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Scott Taylor and our entire vaccine injury team serve clients in all 50 states. If there is a hearing on your claim, the court and our team will travel to your area—at no cost to you. You will never be charged a fee for any of our services, in fact.
If you or a loved one was harmed by a vaccine, you may be able to claim significant and life-changing compensation that can help your family recover. Please call Urban & Taylor, S.C. today to learn if you are eligible for a financial award. Our vaccine injury team can navigate you through the complex vaccine claims process and ensure that you receive the most money possible. The award we obtain will be yours to keep, as we will never deduct attorney’s fees or costs from your award.
