Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP) needs reform

The CICP was established in 2005 under the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act).  The CICP is codified at 42 U.S.C. §§ 247d–6e and 239a, and its implementing regulations are found at 42 C.F.R. Part 110.  The CICP was created to act as a safeguard for Americans injured by medical interventions deployed in public health emergencies. In exchange for granting broad legal immunity to manufacturers,distributors, and healthcare providers under the PREP Act, Congress intended the CICP to serve as a critical safety net for those harmed by emergency-use interventions.  Instead, the program has become a black hole where claims go to die, families are ignored, and the government quietly evades accountability.

As of November 1, 2024, the CICP had received 13,520 claims, many from people who lost loved ones after being given COVID-19 treatments authorized for emergency use during the pandemic. Of the 3,438 claims reviewed, not a single one involving non-vaccine treatments has been approved. This is due, in part, because the CICP requires claimants prove that an authorized countermeasure was the sole cause of their loved one’s death.  Such a standard of causation is virtually impossible to meet. The CICP’s shocking 0% approval rate of claimsreflects its failure to protect the very people Congress intended—families who can no longer sue due to the PREP Act. These families were told the CICP would be their only path to justice. But in reality, the system is rigged against them.

One such family is that of Peter Petrassi, a 49-year-old New York City Transit conductor who served the MTA for over 20 years. In March 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter reported to work every day, helping to keep essential city services running. He was later exposed to COVID-19 and his illness worsened, compounded by the effects of treatment he received as a result of protocols in place at the time. Peter died from complications that his family believes were at least partially caused by countermeasures administered during his illness — yet his family has no legal path to compensation or accountability.

Peter was the first New York City MTA worker to die during the COVID-19 pandemic but, sadly, his death was not an isolated case. A year later, 156 transit workers had died fromcomplications related to COVID-19, many of whom were hospitalized and treated using the same emergency countermeasures.  Yet Peter’s family, like many others, has been shut out by the CICP, unable to meet the impossibly high bar of proving that a single drug or treatment — and not COVID-19 itself — was the sole cause of their loved one’s death.

This is just one example among thousands.

Behind each claim is a grieving spouse, parent, or child. These families were told to trust the government’s response to a pandemic. Many received treatments that were rushed to market under Emergency Use Authorization. Now, they are told they have no right to sue, no right to appeal, and no right to compensation because the government has protected itself and pharmaceutical companies from liability while providing a broken compensation mechanism for citizens. We need your help to bring this tragedy to the attention of the United States Congress.
How has the CICP failed?

- Zero transparency: Families are denied access to how decisions within the CICP are made. Secret internal guidance allegedly instructs reviewers to search for any other cause of injury or death to justify denial.

- Impossible standards: The requirement to prove that the countermeasure was the sole cause of death contradicts medical reality, especially when COVID-19 was present in most cases.

- No legal recourse: Once the Secretary of Health and Human Services makes a final determination regarding a claim for compensation under the CICP, there is no option for appeal, either judicial or administrative. This is violative of the fundamental right of due process.  

- Wasteful spending: While families receive nothing, millions of taxpayer dollars have been paid to government contractors and to cover administrative expenses of the CICP.

- Complete lack of accountability: Despite these failures, the program continues to operate without reform, oversight, or pressure to improve.

Congress created the CICP to serve as a lifeline for those harmed during a national crisis. Instead, it has turned its back on them. By signing this petition, you join others in demanding Congress stop the silent suffering of thousands of families, restore trust and dignity to those who answered the call of service during a national emergency, and reform the CICP before more lives are irreparably harmed.