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It’s Time to Open Pandora’s Box for Compensating Vaccine Injuries
I couldn’t say all I wanted in my National Geographic story about vaccine injuries, so here’s the rest of the story
The story I published in National Geographic on vaccine injuries began in mid-August 2021, when Emily Ekanayake told me on Twitter about her son’s myocarditis and her mounting medical bills. (Note: If you haven’t read that story, it makes more sense to read that before this one. Enter any email to read it.) I wasn’t surprised that her son had experienced myocarditis — it’s well established as linked to mRNA vaccines, particularly for male adolescents. But I was surprised to hear that myocarditis might not be covered as a vaccine injury under the compensation programs that exist specifically to address the expenses associated with proven vaccine injuries. I knew that COVID-19 vaccines fell under the countermeasure program and hadn’t been added yet to the vaccine program, but I wasn’t aware of just how different the programs are, or of how slow the vaccine program had become as more vaccines had been added to it over the years.
I’m keenly aware of the importance of stories in helping people make sense of science. (Obviously — I’m a science journalist!) Often it’s stories told by anti-vaccine activists that frighten…
