The Vaccine Injury Table is a federal list, codified at 42 C.F.R. § 100.3, that pairs specific vaccines with specific injuries and the timeframes in which those injuries must first appear.1eCFR. 42 CFR 100.3 – Vaccine Injury Table If your condition matches an entry on the table, the law presumes the vaccine caused it, and you can claim compensation through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) without having to prove biological causation. Since 1988, the program has paid roughly $5.4 billion across more than 12,000 compensated claims.2Health Resources and Services Administration. VICP Statistics
Which Vaccines Are on the Table
The table covers vaccines the CDC recommends for routine administration to children and pregnant women. That includes measles, mumps, and rubella (the MMR series), polio in both oral and inactivated forms, seasonal influenza, tetanus, hepatitis B, varicella, rotavirus, and several others. When the CDC adds a new vaccine to its routine childhood or prenatal schedule, it can be added to the table after the Secretary of Health and Human Services publishes a notice of coverage.1eCFR. 42 CFR 100.3 – Vaccine Injury Table
Which Injuries Are on the Table
Each vaccine entry is paired with specific injuries and a window during which symptoms must first appear. Some of the more commonly claimed table injuries:
- Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA): shoulder pain and limited range of motion caused by the needle being placed too high or too deep, injecting vaccine material into the tissue around the shoulder joint rather than the muscle. Symptoms must appear within 48 hours.
- Vasovagal syncope: loss of consciousness triggered by a drop in blood flow to the brain after an injection. Onset must occur within one hour of vaccination.
- Anaphylaxis: a severe, whole-body allergic reaction. The required onset window varies by vaccine but is typically within four hours.
- Encephalopathy: a significant change in mental status or brain function. The timeframe varies, but for many vaccines the table requires onset within 72 hours.
The timeframes are strict. If your first symptoms appeared one day outside the listed window, the table presumption does not apply, and you would need to pursue an off-table claim instead.1eCFR. 42 CFR 100.3 – Vaccine Injury Table
COVID-19 Vaccines Are Not on the Table
COVID-19 vaccines are not part of the Vaccine Injury Table, and any petition filed with the Court of Federal Claims alleging a COVID-19 vaccine injury will be dismissed.3United States Court of Federal Claims. Allegations Related to COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries Claims tied to COVID-19 vaccines go through the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), a separate program administered by HRSA under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act. The CICP has no Special Master, no legal presumption of causation, and no payment of attorney fees, and it has historically compensated very few claims. Verify which program covers your vaccine before filing anything.
What Matching the Table Gets You
The value of the table is the legal shortcut. If your injury matches a listing for the vaccine you received and symptoms appeared within the specified window, the law presumes the vaccine caused the injury. You do not need to hire medical experts to build a theory of biological causation. You need to show that you received the vaccine, developed the listed condition, and that the timing fits.4Federal Register. National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: Revisions to the Vaccine Injury Table
Once you establish those elements, the burden shifts to the government. The Department of Health and Human Services must prove that some factor unrelated to the vaccine caused the injury. If HHS cannot identify an alternative cause, the Special Master assigned to your case typically rules in the petitioner’s favor. In ordinary litigation, you would carry the burden of proof from start to finish. Here, the table does most of the heavy lifting for you.
When Your Injury Isn’t on the Table
You can still file a claim when your injury or vaccine doesn’t appear on the table, or when your symptoms fell outside the listed timeframe. The legal standard shifts to causation-in-fact, which requires substantially more work. You have to demonstrate three things: a plausible medical theory connecting the vaccine to your injury, a logical sequence of cause and effect showing the vaccine actually caused your condition, and a reasonable time relationship between the vaccination and the onset of symptoms.
Off-table claims almost always require hiring medical experts to testify about the biological mechanism linking the vaccine to your injury. The court grants no presumption of causation, so every link in the chain needs supporting evidence. Roughly 60 percent of all compensation awarded through the VICP comes from negotiated settlements in which HHS has not conceded that the vaccine caused the injury, which suggests how many cases fall into gray areas rather than clean table matches.2Health Resources and Services Administration. VICP Statistics
Severity Threshold
Not every vaccine reaction qualifies, even when it matches a table listing. Your injury must meet a minimum severity threshold. The effects must have:
- Lasted more than six months after the vaccine was given, or
- Resulted in inpatient hospitalization and surgical intervention, or
- Resulted in death.
A sore arm for a few weeks or a mild fever will not clear this bar. The six-month rule filters out temporary reactions and focuses the program on injuries with lasting consequences.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 300aa-11 – Petitions for Compensation
You do not need to be a U.S. citizen to file. If you received the vaccine outside the United States, you may still qualify if the vaccine was administered in a U.S. trust territory, if you were a U.S. military member, government employee, or dependent of one, or if the vaccine was manufactured by a U.S. company and you returned to the United States within six months of the vaccination date.6Health Resources and Services Administration. What You Need to Know About the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
Deadlines
The statute of limitations depends on whether the claim involves an injury or a death:
- Injury claims: file within three years after the first symptom or significant aggravation of the injury.
- Death claims: file within two years of the death and no more than four years after the first symptom of the injury that led to the death.
The Court of Federal Claims has limited authority to extend these deadlines through equitable tolling, and only in unusual circumstances.7Health Resources and Services Administration. Who Can File a Petition
When the table itself is revised to add a new vaccine or injury, people who were not previously eligible get a separate two-year window from the effective date of the revision to file a petition. The underlying injury or death must have occurred within eight years before the table change.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 US Code 300aa-16 – Limitations of Actions
What a Successful Claim Pays
If the Special Master rules in your favor, compensation can include:
- Medical expenses: past and future costs for diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation, special education, therapy, assistive equipment, and related care that are not reimbursed by insurance or other sources.
- Lost earnings: actual and projected lost income when the injury impaired earning capacity. For injuries sustained before age 18, compensation is calculated based on average national weekly wages once the person reaches adulthood.
- Pain and suffering: capped at $250,000. That figure has not been adjusted for inflation since the program’s creation.
- Death benefit: a flat $250,000 paid to the estate of the deceased.
These categories are set by statute.9GovInfo. 42 US Code 300aa-15 – Compensation The $250,000 cap on pain and suffering has remained unchanged since the 1980s, and multiple legislative proposals to increase it have stalled in Congress.