COVID‑19 Vaccines Credited with Saving Millions, While Compensation System Excludes Them

A modeling study published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases estimated that COVID‑19 vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths worldwide in their first year, including 4.2 million in India, 1.9 million in the United States, 1 million in Brazil, 631,000 in France and 507,000 in the United Kingdom. The researchers used data from 185 countries and highlighted that an additional 600,000 deaths could have been avoided if WHO's 40% vaccination coverage target had been met by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which was created in the 1980s to provide no‑fault compensation for vaccine‑related injuries, does not currently cover COVID‑19 vaccine claims. More than 11,000 individuals have filed such claims, but the program’s funding mechanism—a 75‑cent tax on childhood vaccines—only supports the original vaccine injury scheme, which has paid out over $5 billion to about 13,000 claimants since its inception.