BETHESDA, Md. — The Department of Health and Human Services opened a specialized clinic this week at the National Institutes of Health campus in Bethesda, Maryland, dedicated to evaluating and treating individuals who experience health problems after receiving vaccines, agency officials announced.
The facility is a central component of an administration-wide initiative championed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to revamp how the federal government investigates and responds to potential vaccine-related adverse events, according to the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society. A report from Politico indicated that the clinic’s launch promotes Kennedy’s personal health priorities shortly before congressional midterm elections that will determine party control on Capitol Hill.
As part of the same initiative, federal health officials have proposed using the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to compensate medical providers who submit incident reports to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, CIDRAP reported. Defending the policy push, Kennedy stated that federal agencies must not “dismiss or gaslight” families who believe they have been harmed by immunizations.
Scrutiny over monitoring and claims
Public health researchers and policy analysts have raised questions about the new focus on VAERS filings. Established surveillance mechanisms already possess a documented record of identifying rare side effects, including the clotting disorder tied to the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 shot in 2021, CIDRAP reported. Because any individual can submit an unverified filing to VAERS, public health experts cautioned that submitting more reports without clinical research could lead the public to mistake raw submission numbers for evidence of widespread harm.
Experts also pointed out that paying for reports does not resolve the significant administrative backlog in the federal compensation program, where injured claimants frequently wait two to three years for claim resolution, CIDRAP reported. Additionally, health specialists cautioned that potential revisions by HHS to the Vaccine Injury Table—which establishes a legal presumption of causation within defined timeframes—could lead to substantial payouts for conditions that lack scientific links to vaccines, potentially draining the compensation fund and deterring drugmakers from producing vaccines.
Broader policy disputes and court reviews
The clinic’s debut coincides with a broader reorientation of vaccine policies overseen by Kennedy. On Sept. 23, HHS updated clinical guidance for COVID-19 immunizations, replacing previous language declaring that vaccination benefits outweigh risks with regulatory warnings from package inserts about unknown risks, according to a comparative review by CIDRAP. Although the guidance continues to recommend the shots for all adults aged 18 and older, it categorizes vaccinations for healthy adults under 65 as off-label because the Food and Drug Administration cleared the vaccines under a narrower authorization.
Federal courts are also actively reviewing Kennedy’s leadership decisions. In June 2025, Kennedy dismissed all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, filling the vacancies with individuals who had questioned immunization safety, CIDRAP reported. The American Academy of Pediatrics and allied medical organizations filed suit, resulting in a district court order that temporarily halted the new committee’s operations and paused changes to the childhood immunization schedule. The First Circuit heard oral arguments on Oct. 6 regarding the government’s challenge to the committee suspension.
At the same time, congressional oversight could shift following the upcoming midterms, with STAT reporting potential high turnover across the House Energy and Commerce, House Ways and Means, and Senate health committees. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reporting proposal remains a preliminary plan that has not yet opened for formal public comment, and it remains unknown when the agency will publish the measure for stakeholder feedback.
