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February 7, 2017

A Global Vaccine Injury Compensation System

Author Affiliations
  • 1O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown University, Washington, DC
  • 2University of Missouri School of Law, Columbia
  • 3School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
JAMA. 2017;317(5):471-472. doi:10.1001/jama.2016.19492

Vaccines are extremely safe and harm is rare. Worldwide, more than 30 000 vaccine doses are delivered per second through routine immunization programs, which, in turn, prevent an estimated 2 million to 3 million deaths annually.1 The occurrence of serious adverse events, such as those that result in death, threaten life, require inpatient hospitalization, or result in significant disability, are rare (eg, <1 adverse event occurs per 10 million doses for tetanus toxoid vaccines, 1-2 adverse events per 1 million doses for inactivated influenza vaccine, and none for hepatitis A).2

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