Litigation, Regulation, and Education -- Protecting the Public's Health through Childhood Immunization

doi:10.1056/NEJMp0901598

Volume 360:2500-2501		June 11, 2009		Number 24

Litigation, Regulation, and Education — Protecting the Public's Health through Childhood Immunization

Ross D. Silverman, J.D., M.P.H.

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PubMed Citation

Recently, three special masters of the U.S. Court of FederalClaims issued carefully reasoned, strongly worded opinions rejectingclaims that medical and scientific evidence could demonstratecausal links between thimerosal-containing vaccines or measles–mumps–rubella(MMR) vaccination and the development of chronic health conditionssuch as autism, immune dysfunction, and gastrointestinal dysfunction.The three cases were test cases drawn from more than 5000 similarclaims filed under the National Vaccine Injury CompensationProgram (VICP), which was established in 1988 in response toconcerns that injury lawsuits against vaccine manufacturersand administrators were threatening the nation's childhood-vaccinesupply. Because the injuries claimed in . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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Mr. Silverman is a professor and chair of the Department of Medical Humanities and a professor of psychiatry at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, Springfield, and a professor of medical jurisprudence at Southern Illinois University School of Law, Carbondale.