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6 J. Health & Biomedical L. 79 (2010)
Special Masters in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Placing a Heightened Burden on Vaccine Program Petitioners by Straying from Precedent and Congressional Intent

handle is hein.journals/jhbio6 and id is 83 raw text is: 79 Journal ofHealth & Biomedical Law, Vol. VI (2010): 79-107 0 2010 Journal of Health & Biomedical Law Suffolk University Law School Special Masters in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Placing a Heightened Burden on Vaccine Program Petitioners by Straying from Precedent and Congressional Intent Meredith Daniels* Vaccinations are an integral aspect of the success of modern public health initiatives and have greatly improved the quality of life and health of American citizens by preventing the spread of disease.' Vaccinations are so important that all fifty states and the District of Columbia require mandatory immunizations for school attendance.2 Despite the obvious benefits of vaccinations, the risk of adverse reactions exists.3 * J.D. Candidate, Suffolk University Law School, 2010; B.A., Brown University, 2007. Ms. Daniels clerked at Conway, Homer & Chin-Caplan, P.C. in 2009-2010. Ms. Daniels may be reached at meredith.k.daniels@gmail.com. H. R. REP. No. 99-908, at 4 (1986), reprinted in 1986 U.S.C.C.A.N. 6344, 6345 (explaining vaccinations are considered one of the most ... effective public health initiatives . . . ever undertaken). Federal and state immunization programs reduced the number of infections and deaths from polio, measles, mumps, rubella, diphtheria and smallpox. See Erica A. Little, The Role of Special Masters in Off-Table Vaccination Compensation Cases: Assuring Flexibiity Over Certainty, 16 FED. CIR. B.J. 355, 355 (2007) (stating [m]any trumpet childhood immunizations as one of the most successful public health efforts in the United States). 2 See Randall B. Keiser, Doa Vu All Over Again? The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act of 1986, 47 FOOD & DRUG L.J. 15, 15 (1992) (explaining most states require immunizations for diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, measles, mumps, rubella, and polio for children in grade levels kindergarten through twelfth grade); see also SUBCOMM. ON HEALTH AND THE ENv'T OF THE HOUSE COMM. ON ENERGY AND COMMERCE, 99th Cong., 2d Sess., REPORT ON CHILDHOOD IMMUNIZATIONS 1 (Comm. Print 1986). 3 H.R. REP. No. 99-908. Congress recognized that [w]hile most of the Nation's children enjoy greater benefit from immunization programs, a small but significant number have been gravely injured. Id. at 4. In referencing House Reports, Congress is attributed because: 1) the Federal Circuit, the interpreter of the laws of the Vaccine Program, references Congress when citing to the same House Reports, and 2) Congress adopted the House Report as part of its legislative history when the Vaccine Act was passed. Between 2001 and 2005, over 330,000 Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) reports were filed. See Illinois Vaccine Awareness