WATCH: Kennedy on how government compensation program for vaccine injuries could change

Kennedy’s plan pushed for greater scrutiny over vaccine-related injuries. When asked by a reporter about how this new process would be different, given the nation’s health agencies already investigates these cases, Kennedy said the current process makes it difficult for people to report a vaccine injury and doctors are de-incentivized from reporting it.

“Every medication has side effects and they cause injuries that are rare,” he said. Those injured “deserves the same kind of care and consideration that we give to anybody who’s injured in this country.”

Health experts acknowledge there’s a backlog in cases in the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which was set up in the 1980s for people to get money for injuries associated with vaccines. But there are mounting concerns from doctors and researchers that Kennedy, a former anti-vaccine advocate, would reshape the system in a way that would encompass injuries not directly related to vaccines.

“We are recasting the entire program,” Kennedy said. Vaccine injuries “will be studied and individuals who suffer them will not be denied or marginalized or vilified or gaslighted, it will be welcome, and we will learn everything that we can about them so that we can improve the safety of these products.”

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