Kennedy launches a federal vaccine-injury push: an NIH clinic, paid VAERS reporting and a rebuilt reporting system
Why it matters
For decades families who reported a reaction after a vaccine were told it was a coincidence. HHS is now building a clinic to study those cases and paying doctors to report them. It is the most concrete step yet toward the vaccine-safety research Kennedy promised.
At a roundtable at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland on October 8, 2026, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a set of actions on vaccine injury. They include a new NIH clinic where researchers will study patients who develop health problems after vaccination, a proposed Medicare and Medicaid payment so physicians are reimbursed for filing reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a requirement that electronic health records capture suspected vaccine reactions, and a modernized VAERS.
Kennedy called vaccine injury an “invisible disease” and said, “We must listen to patients and families who report vaccine injuries—not dismiss or gaslight them.” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz and CDC Director Erica Schwartz also took part.
No dollar figure was announced. Critics including Dr. Paul Offit said the effort could lower confidence in vaccines and that the U.S. already runs several safety-monitoring systems. The same day, a separate report warned that the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program faces a funding and backlog crisis, with claims taking two to three years to resolve.
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