Posted on June 01, 2017 in Vaccine Injuries

Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously confirmed that attorneys may recover fees and costs for a petition seeking compensation for a vaccine injury even if it is ultimately found to be untimely (filed past the 36 month statute of limitations).  In Sebelius v. Cloer, the Supreme Court had to determine whether a finding that a petition was untimely was a bar to awarding attorney’s fees.

Under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act attorney’s may not seek payment from a client for filing a petition; instead the Act provides for payment of attorney’s fees and costs from the fund whether the claim was successful or unsuccessful so long as the petition was filed in good faith and there was a reasonable basis for the claim.  In order to be timely the petition must be filed within 36 months of the date of the first symptom of such injury.  42 U.S.C. §300aa-16(a)(2).

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 Posted on June 01, 2017 in Vaccine Injuries

In March, we blogged about the increased incidence of narcolepsy in children and teenagers who received GlaxoSmithKline’s Pandemrix vaccine (a vaccine against H1N1). Studies across Europe noted the link between Pandemrix and the rates of narcolepsy in children. Now, Finland’s National Institute for Health and Welfare has found an increased incidence of narcolepsy in adults who received Pandemrix.

Hospital and primary care records in Finland reveal that adults aged 20-64 years old who received Pandemrix were 3-5 times more likely to develop narcolepsy than unvaccinated people. Studies in Sweden and France have also revealed an increased incidence of narcolepsy in adults vaccinated with Pandemrix. GlaxoSmithKline recognizes that an association has been demonstrated but states that there is insufficient evidence to show that Pandemrix is the cause of the increased incidence of narcolepsy.

GlaxoSmithKline’s Q-Pan H5N1 vaccine is still being considered for approval by the FDA. Q-Pan H5N1 contains AS03, an adjuvant that scientists suggested may be the culprit in Pandemrix causing the narcolepsy in children. Q-Pan H5N1 received support from the committee in November 2012. However, at the end of March, the FDA requested more time to respond.

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 Posted on June 01, 2017 in Vaccine Injuries

A quick survey of the news and media produces daily warnings that pertussis (whooping cough) is on the rise. These sources often blame low vaccination rates or under vaccination. However, that leaves out other important possible factors while stigmatizing parents that choose, for a variety of reasons, not to vaccinate their children.

For instance, researchers have recently found vaccine-resistant strains of bordatella pertussis (the bacteria that causes whooping cough) in the U.S. Researchers analyzed 30 samples of bordatella pertussis specimens from children hospitalized in Philadelphia and found 60% were a variant resistant to the vaccine. The current pertussis vaccine relies on pertactin (a protein on the outer membrane of the bacteria) as an antigen. Meanwhile, the study revealed the pertussis bacteria has developed at least two variants that halt the production of pertactin. This means the immune system, which has developed immunity from the pertussis vaccine, does not recognize the mutated pertussis strain. French studies of pertactin-negative mutated strains have shown that such strains are just as infectious as non-mutated strains.

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