Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf
Page Number: 6

Cite as:  562 U. S. ____ (2011) 

3 

Opinion of the Court 

significant  number  of  parents  were  already  declining 
vaccination  for  their  children,10  and  concerns  about  com-
pensation  threatened  to  depress  vaccination  rates  even
further.11   This  was  a  source  of  concern  to  public  health
officials,  since  vaccines  are  effective  in  preventing  out-
breaks of disease only if a large percentage of the popula-
tion is vaccinated.12 

To stabilize the vaccine market and facilitate compensa-
tion, Congress enacted the NCVIA in 1986.  The Act estab-
lishes a no-fault compensation program “designed to work 
faster  and  with  greater  ease  than  the  civil  tort  system.” 
Shalala v.  Whitecotton, 514 U. S. 268, 269 (1995).  A per-
son injured by a vaccine, or his legal guardian, may file a
petition  for  compensation  in  the  United  States  Court  of 
Federal  Claims,  naming  the  Secretary  of  Health  and
Human  Services  as  the  respondent.13   A  special  master
then makes an informal adjudication of the petition within
(except for two limited exceptions) 240 days.14  The Court 
of  Federal  Claims  must  review  objections  to  the  special 
master’s  decision  and  enter  final  judgment  under  a  simi-
larly tight statutory deadline.15  At that point, a claimant 
has two options: to accept the court’s judgment and forgo a
traditional tort suit for damages, or to reject the judgment
and  seek  tort  relief  from  the  vaccine  manufacturer.16 
Fast, informal adjudication is made possible by the Act’s
Vaccine  Injury  Table,  which  lists  the  vaccines  covered 
under  the  Act;  describes  each  vaccine’s  compensable, 

—————— 

Lawsuits,  and  Legal  Rights:  The  Battle  over  Litigation  in  American 
Society 146 (2002). 

10 Mortimer, supra, at 906. 
11 See Hagan, 45 Food Drug Cosm. L. J. 477, 479 (1990). 
12 See R. Merrill, Introduction to Epidemiology 65–68 (2010). 
13 See 42 U. S. C. §300aa–11(a)(1). 
14 See §300aa–12(d)(3). 
15 See §300aa–12(e), (g). 
16 See §300aa–21(a).