HHS launches NIH clinic to study vaccine injuries

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched a clinic dedicated to studying “patients experiencing health problems following vaccination” as it mulls reimbursement program for doctors who report vaccine-related injuries.

HHS said the new office — located within the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) headquarters in Bethesda — opened earlier this week, it announced Thursday . Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the initiative is reflective of the Trump administration’s efforts to take those who report post-vaccination health problems seriously.

“We must listen to patients and families who report vaccine injuries—not dismiss or gaslight them,” Kennedy said in a statement. “President Trump and I are building a health system that takes them seriously, follows the evidence, and uses what we learn to make vaccines safer. This is how we earn back trust in our public health institutions.”

Kennedy has long claimed that vaccines are linked to a slew of adverse health effects. Throughout his tenure as HHS secretary, he has specifically peddled the widely debunked theory that vaccinations can cause autism.

During a recent keynote address at a Children’s Health Defense conference, the anti-vaccine group Kennedy previously chaired, he claimed vaccines were linked to the chronic disease epidemic. The secretary went on to link vaccines to a collection of adverse conditions, including “diabetes, death, sudden infant death syndrome, anorexia, allergic reactions, allergies, asthma [and] autoimmune diseases.”

The agency also said Wednesday it would propose reimbursement for physicians who report suspected vaccine-related injuries to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS). HHS will also now require that a patient’s electronic health records be included in vaccine-related adverse event reports.

VAERS is a voluntary, self-reported system that does not independently verify reported injuries. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website includes a disclaimer that VAERS data “may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable.”