Washington Vaccine Attorney

Vaccine attorney Phyllis Widman, Esq. is admitted to file claims for vaccine related injuries occurring in the State of Washington. The admission to practice in the Court of Federal Claims, the Court in which vaccine injury claims are heard, allows specially admitted attorneys such as Phyllis Widman, Esq. to bring vaccine injury claims in all 50 states and D.C., including Washington. Whether you are in Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Spokane, Olympia, Vancouver, or anywhere in between, the astute team Widman Law Firm is ready to provide you with high quality legal representation for your vaccine injury claim across the state of Washington.

In the 1970’s and 80’s, makers of the Pertussis vaccine came under heavy legal fire from parents who accused the vaccine of causing brain injury in their children. The lawsuits and public backlash which followed were enough to force drug companies to stop producing the vaccine. By 1985, only one maker of the Pertussis vaccine was left in the States.

Seeing the drop in vaccination rates forced the U.S. Government to step in, and in 1986, the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed by Congress. This Act protected drug companies from liability in the event of vaccine injuries; instead of suing the manufacturers directly, vaccine-injured people would need to address the government itself. The process by which people could file those claims against the government was created as an arm of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, and called the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

As of 2023, the VICP has awarded billions of dollars in compensation to people damaged by vaccines and vaccine administrations.

Of the vaccines covered by the program, the flu shot appears most frequently, accounting for just over 60% of the decisions made by the VICP. The most common injury seen in vaccine court is SIRVA, or Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration: a collection of conditions which affect the site of vaccine administration (most commonly the shoulder), and which usually come about as a result of administration by under-trained pharmacy technicians.

While the VICP is a part of the U.S. Court of Federal claims, and is therefore a legal system, claimants rarely need to physically appear in court. Due to the national jurisdiction of the program, as well as the medical condition of some of its claimants, VICP proceedings are handled via video conference across all 50 states. When filing in the VICP it is advised to proceed with an experienced vaccine attorney, though petitioners do have the right to represent themselves if they wish to exercise it. Further, the program pays its petitioners’ legal fees, or legal costs if they represented themself, so the injured never lose a portion of their compensation.

Compensation from the VICP may include:

• An award for pain and suffering, up to $250,000;
• Reimbursement of lost income;
• Reimbursement of medical costs;
• Projected future cost of living expenses;
• If a vaccine resulted in death, a death benefit up to $250,000 may be granted

Note: the pain and suffering and death benefit awards are limited to $250,000, but other amounts paid out by the program are uncapped and may stretch well into the millions, depending on the case and the needs of the injured.

While the VICP covers certain injuries caused by some common vaccines, it doesn’t cover all of them, and it only covers vaccines. The Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program, or CICP, further extends that coverage to medical countermeasures developed in a time of emergency. One such example of a public health crisis is the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-related countermeasures make up more than 95% of all injury and death claims filed in the CICP.

The COVID-19 vaccine accounts for most of those claims.

The CICP shares some similarities with the VICP, but it also differs greatly. Firstly, the CICP is not a legal system like its sister program; instead, the CICP follows an administrative protocol. Claims are received and processed solely by medical staff employed by the Department of Health and Human Services, excluding opposing counsel and judges.

Also unlike the VICP, the CICP is considered a “last resort” payment program. To that end, the CICP does not grant a pain and suffering award, but it will grant up to $379,000 in lost wages, a “reasonable” reimbursement for medical and cost of living expenses, or if a death occurred from a covered countermeasure, a benefit of up to $370,000 for the estate.

At Widman Law Firm, we fight for our injured clients in vaccine court every day. We’ve won millions in compensation for victims of vaccine injury, whose damages run the gamut from acute and moderate to severe and life-altering. We’ve fought for them, and now we’re ready to fight for you. Call or send us an email today to learn more about either the VICP or the CICP program and how we can begin filing your claim for compensation.

NOTE: there is a strict time limit of THREE years from the onset of injury symptoms to file in the VICP, and only ONE year from the administration of the countermeasure to file in the CICP. Once the statute of limitations has expired on your claim, you will no longer be eligible to file in either program. DO NOT WAIT.