Overview

• Senior adviser Andrew Downing said officials are looking to “capture these kids” by broadening definitions of encephalopathy or neurological injury rather than explicitly listing autism.
• No formal proposal has been issued, and changes would likely require notice-and-comment rulemaking, though HHS could also shift settlement practices without revising the injury table.
• Experts and program lawyers warn that opening eligibility to autism-related claims could overwhelm the vaccine court and strain the compensation trust fund.
• The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, created in 1986 and funded by an excise tax on vaccines, has paid about $5.4 billion in awards and holds roughly $4 billion for future claims.
• The push revisits the 2000s omnibus autism cases in which special masters denied compensation, while Secretary Kennedy has argued for faster, easier awards for general brain dysfunction.