I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8202 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a presumption of 

service-connection under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for certain diseases associated with the COVID–19 vaccine 

that become manifest during the one-year period following the receipt 

of the vaccine, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2024 

Mr. DAVIDSON (for himself, Mr. GRIFFITH, Mr. CRANE, Mr. WEBER of Texas, 

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. MOORE of Alabama, Mr. POSEY, Mr. 

NEHLS, Mr. MASSIE, Mrs. HARSHBARGER, Mr. BIGGS, Ms. GREENE of 

Georgia, Mr. ROSENDALE, Mr. STEUBE, Mr. MAST, Mr. BURLISON, Mrs. 

MILLER of Illinois, Mr. DUNN of Florida, Ms. BOEBERT, Mr. CAREY, Mr. 

FALLON, Mrs. LUNA, and Mr. GOSAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 

determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to provide for a 

presumption of service-connection under the laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs for certain 

diseases associated with the COVID–19 vaccine that become manifest during the one-year period following the 

receipt of the vaccine, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Justice for Vaccine 

3 Injured Veterans Act of 2024’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

5 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) On August 24, 2021, Secretary of Defense 

7 Lloyd Austin issued a memorandum titled, ‘‘Manda8 tory Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination of De9 partment of Defense Service Members’’. 

10 (2) This memorandum stated, ‘‘I therefore di11 rect the Secretaries of the Military Departments to 

12 immediately begin full vaccination of all members of 

13 the Armed Forces under DoD authority on active 

14 duty or in the Ready Reserve, including the National 

15 Guard, who are not fully vaccinated against 

16 COVID–19’’. 

17 (3) In December 2022, the Department of De18 fense reported that ‘‘98 percent of active duty serv19 ice members and 96 percent of the total force have 

20 been vaccinated’’ from COVID–19. 

21 (4) As a result of this memorandum, more than 

22 8,400 members of the Armed Forces were forced out 

23 of the military for refusing to get the COVID–19 

24 vaccine. 

25 (5) On January 10, 2023, Secretary Austin was 

26 forced to rescind this memorandum as a requirement 


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1 of section 525 of the James M. Inhofe National De2 fense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (Pub3 lic Law 117–263). 

4 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con5 gress that the actions referred to in subsection (a) that 

6 were taken by the Department of Defense under the Biden 

7 administration caused irreparable harm to the health and 

8 readiness of the United States Armed Forces. 

9 SEC. 3. DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS PRESUMP10 TION OF SERVICE-CONNECTION FOR CER11 TAIN DISEASES ASSOCIATED WITH COVID–19 

12 VACCINE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 11 of 

14 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

15 end the following new section: 

16 ‘‘§ 1120A. Presumption of service-connection for cer17 tain diseases associated with COVID–19 

18 vaccine 

19 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For the purposes of section 1110 

20 of this title, and subject to section 1113 of this title, a 

21 disease specified in subsection (b) becoming manifest in 

22 a member of the Armed Forces who, during the period 

23 beginning on August 24, 2021, and ending on January 

24 10, 2023, received a COVID–19 vaccine under orders shall 

25 be considered to have been incurred in or aggravated durVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:57 Jun 03, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8202.IH H8202

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1 ing active military, naval, air, or space service, notwith2 standing that there is no record of evidence of such disease 

3 during the period of such service. 

4 ‘‘(b) COVERED DISEASES.—The diseases specified in 

5 this subsection are the following: 

6 ‘‘(1) Myocarditis. 

7 ‘‘(2) Pericarditis. 

8 ‘‘(3) Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syn9 drome. 

10 ‘‘(4) Guillian-Barre Syndrome. 

11 ‘‘(5) Any other disease for which the Secretary 

12 determines that a presumption of service connection 

13 is warranted based on a positive association with the 

14 COVID–19 vaccine. 

15 ‘‘(c) CONGRESSIONAL NOTICE REQUIREMENT.—If 

16 the Secretary determines that an additional disease should 

17 be specified pursuant to subsection (b)(4), the Secretary 

18 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans Affairs’ of 

19 the Senate and the House of Representatives notice of 

20 such determination. 

21 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 60 days after the date 

22 of enactment of the Justice for Vaccine Injured Veterans 

23 Act of 2024, and every 60 days thereafter for the subse24 quent four year-period, the Secretary shall submit to the 

25 Committees of Veterans’ Affairs of the Senate and the 


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1 House of Representatives a report that contains each of 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) The total number of claims for compensa4 tion under this chapter related to a disease associ5 ated with the COVID–19 vaccine. 

6 ‘‘(2) The status of each such claim, 

7 disaggregated by— 

8 ‘‘(A) the number of claims that were ap9 proved; 

10 ‘‘(B) the number of claims that were de11 nied and for which the claimant took no further 

12 action; 

13 ‘‘(C) the number of claims that were de14 nied and for which the claimant filed a supple15 mental claim; 

16 ‘‘(D) the number of claims that were de17 nied and for which the claimant requested a 

18 higher level review; and 

19 ‘‘(E) the number of claims that were de20 nied and for which the claimant filed an appeal 

21 to the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

22 ‘‘(3) The total number of such claims that, as 

23 of the date of the submission of the report, had been 

24 submitted but were pending a decision. 


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1 ‘‘(e) PUBLIC ACCESS TO REPORTS.—The Secretary 

2 shall make each report required by subsection (d) publicly 

3 available, including by making publicly available on an ap4 propriate website of the Department each such report to5 gether with such additional information or comments as 

6 the Secretary considers appropriate to provide context for 

7 the report. 

8 ‘‘(f) COVID–19 VACCINE DEFINED.—In this section, 

9 the term ‘COVID–19 vaccine’ means vaccine licensed 

10 under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 262) or authorized for emergency use under sec12 tion 564 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act 

13 (21 U.S.C. 360bbb–3) for immunization against the virus 

14 responsible for COVID–19.’’. 

15 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

16 at the beginning of such chapter is amended by inserting 

17 after the item relating to section 1120 the following new 

18 item: 

‘‘3320A. Presumption of service-connection for certain diseases associated with 

COVID–19 vaccine.’’. 

Æ 


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