National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Adding the Category of Vaccines Recommended for Pregnant Women to the Vaccine Injury Table

On April 4, 2018, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to amend the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP or Program) Vaccine Injury Table (Table), consistent with the statutory requirement to include vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for routine administration in pregnant women. Specifically, the Secretary sought public comment regarding how the addition of this new category should be formatted on the Table. Through this final rule, the Secretary amends the Table to add "and/or pregnant women" after "children" to the existing language in Item XVII as proposed in the NPRM. This change will apply only to petitions for compensation under the VICP filed after the effective date of this final rule.