While U.S. Government Struggles to Process Claims, Nonprofit Awards $1 Million to People Injured by COVID Vaccines

The nonprofit React19 surpassed $1 million in its latest round of grants to people injured by the COVID-19 vaccines, while the CICP is said to be struggling to process “surge” in claims.

by Suzanne Burdick, Ph.D.

React19 said it has provided more than $1 million to people injured by the COVID-19 vaccine, after completing its latest round of grants.

React19 Co-Chairman Joel Wallskog — an orthopedic surgeon who was injured by Moderna’s shot — said in a press release, “Reaching this milestone is both a testament to the generosity of our donors and a sobering reminder of the systemic failure to adequately support COVID-19 vaccine-injured patients.”

“We will not rest until every injured individual receives the recognition, care, and compensation they deserve,” Wallskog added.

React19 was formed after the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines as a community of those injured by the shots. “We found each other through our common struggle,” its website states, “and our community has continued to grow, far beyond any expectations.”

Now the nonprofit has a “React19 CareFund” that provides financial help for medical treatments and therapies for people injured by COVID-19 vaccines, according to the press release.

On Jan. 16, the group’s board approved the latest round of grant recipients, bringing the total amount distributed to over $1 million since the fund’s creation.

Reporting on the news, TrialSiteNews said:

“This milestone highlights the stark inadequacies of the U.S. government’s Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), which has allocated far less support to vaccine-injured individuals despite its federal mandate.

“React19’s efforts, driven by grassroots donations and volunteer advocacy, underscore the urgent need for alternative mechanisms to address systemic neglect of vaccine-injured patients.”

Injury claims skyrocket after COVID vaccine rollout

React19 passed its million-dollar milestone less than a month after the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report on CICP’s handling of COVID-19 injury claims.

Launched in 2010, the CICP is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ program that “provides compensation for covered serious injuries or deaths that occur as the result of the administration or use of certain countermeasures,” including COVID-19 vaccines.

GAO found that the CICP received a “surge” of 13,333 COVID-19 claims since the vaccine rollout — 27 times the number of claims received in the program’s first decade.

The report also revealed that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the CICP, completed a review for only a quarter of the claims.

That comes as no surprise to Doug Cameron, an Idaho rancher who developed paralysis 10 days after getting Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine.

In January 2022, he and his wife, Carla, submitted a CICP claim. Carla told The Defender in November 2024 that whenever she calls to check in on their claim, she is told, “Yeah, it’s still sitting on somebody’s desk for medical review.”

The CICP staff cited three reasons for failing to keep up with COVID-19 claims: staffing shortages, outdated information processing systems, and limited medical and scientific evidence on which to base their decisions about whether or not the injuries or deaths were caused by the COVID-19 vaccines.

The GAO reported that HRSA took action to address these issues.

“For example,” GAO’s Health Care Director Mary Denigan-Macauley told The Defender, “they hired and contracted additional staff to expand capacity and launched a web portal and new software to help with claim submissions and status updates.”

HRSA also developed a medical report template that medical reviewers can use to more easily assess alleged injuries or death in light of available peer-reviewed studies.

Still, the most recent figures from CICP’s website show that only just over a quarter of all COVID-19 claims have been reviewed.

Only 3% of claims deemed eligible for compensation

According to GAO’s report, the CICP has reviewed 13,824 total claims — that’s including COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 claims.

Only 92 of those — or 3% — were deemed eligible for compensation.

The report said, “Most of the claims eligible to receive compensation were for serious injuries or deaths caused by COVID-19 countermeasures (52) or for serious injuries caused by the H1N1 vaccine (37).”

HRSA listed a few reasons why most claims were deemed ineligible for compensation, including that the claims lacked requested medical records or failed to meet the standard of proof. Some claims that were submitted involved a countermeasure not covered under the CICP.

However, the most common reason for a claim to be considered ineligible was failure to meet the filing deadline — this reason affected 1,935 claims. HRSA requires claims to be submitted within one year of when the countermeasure was administered, Denigan-Macauley said.

As of December 2024, the CICP paid roughly $440,000 for injuries related to COVID-19 countermeasures, such as myocarditis.

Meanwhile, React19 said that despite its success of topping $1 million in grants to those injured by the COVID-19 shots, its CareFund is still “critically underfunded,” given how many people are reporting injury as a result of COVID-19 vaccination.

There are “thousands of individuals still waiting for help,” the nonprofit said.

Related articles in The Defender:

• Woman With ‘Life-Altering’ Injuries After COVID Vaccine Teams Up With U.S. Senators to Demand Answers

• U.S. Pays $370,376 for COVID Vaccine Injury, as Thousands of Claims Languish

• Why Hasn’t Federal Vaccine Program Helped Those Whose Lives Have Been Altered by COVID Shot?

• Exclusive: Idaho Man Paralyzed 10 Days After Getting J&J COVID Vaccine

• DOD Whistleblower Goes Public, Calls for Investigation Into New COVID Vaccine Injury Data