By Wayne Rohde Late last summer the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) reached a milestone that no one should be proud of. The total amount of compensation and fees paid out for injuries and deaths as the result of the influenza vaccine crossed the $1 Billion dollar threshold. This represents over 25% of the entire outlay from the Program was the result of injuries and deaths from the Influenza vaccine. This vaccine was only approved in 2005. I wrote about it here. PETITION FILINGS Now we are approaching another milestone, the total number of petitions filed in one fiscal year. The benchmark was notoriously achieved in 1991 with 2,718 filings and was nearly matched in 2003 with 2,592 filings. In 1991, the program required petitioners within a given timeframe for Hepatitis B injuries. In 1992, the petition filings dropped to 189 and remained steady until 2000. (data source) The vast majority of 2003 petitions (2,592) were autism related. The following year, 2004, saw 1,214 filings. The 2004 figure alone, if not for 2003, could have served as the high-water mark for the next 13 years. Most years the figure was between 350-600 petitions filed. It was not until
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