From Swine Flu to Smallpox: Government Compensation Programs for Vaccines and Terrorism

A government’s primary duty is to protect its citizens. While there are many forms and means of protection, the health and safety of the citizens are two of the fundamental protections that Americans expect. Typically, vaccines have been used to protect the public health, and vaccines are considered one of the greatest accomplishments of the twentieth century. However, vaccines can also be used as a safety measure; the Smallpox vaccination program is an example of how a vaccine could be used to protect the public in the event of a bioterrorism attack. As with most things, there is a cost associated with vaccines; in order to address such costs, the government has created and implemented three vaccine liability and compensation plans: the National Swine Flu Immunization Program, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, and the Smallpox Emergency Personnel Protection Act. The government has also implemented a plan to compensate the victims of the September 11th terrorist attacks: the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund. Although only the Victim Compensation Fund directly responded to a terrorist attack, all of these programs were meant to provide for the health and safety of American citizens. Of these four programs, only the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act is still operating. The remaining three have all ended, due to either problems associated with the programs or the expiration of the program. This paper will address each of the four programs in chronological order. Starting with the National Swine Flu Immunization Program, moving to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, followed by the 9/11 Victim Compensation Fund, and finally to the Smallpox Emergency Personnel Act. The purpose of this paper is to educate the reader about these programs, to present the positive and negative aspects of them, and to explain why some were failures and some were successes.