Lawyers attending the September International Public Conference on Vaccination who reviewed Classen's data are advising people with diabetes possibly injured by vaccines to seek legal counsel at once. The United States and other governments provide compensation for vaccine-induced injuries. Cliff Shoemaker of Shoemaker and Horn in Vienna, Virginia, is one attorney who is filing such claims on behalf of people with diabetes. Michael R. Hugo, Esq., an attorney who also handles vaccine-injury cases for Hugo and Pollack, LLP of Boston, says the statute of limitations for people with diabetes seeking financial compensation for their injuries is completely a matter of state law. Also, in most states, there is a period of time where the statute of limitations does not even begin to run until the child reaches the age of majority for that state.
Shoemaker agrees with Hugo that statutes of limitation for states are quite variable.
Frank Destefano of the CDC says, based on scientific evidence, any person with type 1 seeking monetary damages for vaccine-related injuries would have a very weak case. In order to go about proving the vaccine is the underlying cause of their developing type 1 diabetes, Hugo says a person would need competent medical testimony, as they will have to actually prove cause. Shoemaker feels the VICP's table of injuries is controversial. Shoemaker says if an injury is not listed under the table of injuries, it can still be proved to be related. Shoemaker agrees that Classen's published literature might be the only evidence proving that vaccines are the underlying cause of a person developing type 1.