HHS launches NIH clinic to study vaccine injuries

The Department of Health and Human Services has launched a new research clinic at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, to study health problems following vaccination. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the initiative on October 5, 2026, as part of efforts to address vaccine injuries. Concurrently, the agency proposed reimbursing doctors for reporting adverse events to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, amid rising measles cases in New York.

New NIH vaccine injury initiative

• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services launched a research clinic at the National Institutes of Health headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland, to study patients experiencing health problems following vaccination
• ▪Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the National Institutes of Health vaccine injury research initiative on Monday, October 5, 2026, with the new NIH vaccine injury clinic in Bethesda, Maryland, opening that same week
• ▪Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that the Trump administration is building a health system to take postvaccination health reports seriously, follow evidence, and make vaccines safer to rebuild public trust

Updates to Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting

• ▪The Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System is a voluntary, self-reported database that does not independently verify reported injuries and may contain incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable information
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services will now require that a patient's electronic health records be included in vaccine-related adverse event reports submitted to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System
• ▪The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Wednesday, October 7, 2026, a proposal to reimburse physicians who report suspected vaccine-related injuries to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System

Kennedy's history on vaccines

• ▪Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. previously chaired the antivaccine group Children's Health Defense
• ▪Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has historically claimed vaccines are linked to adverse health effects, including autism, chronic diseases, diabetes, sudden infant death syndrome, anorexia, allergic reactions, asthma, and autoimmune diseases

Measles outbreaks in the United States

• ▪New York Governor Kathy Hochul declared upstate New York a disaster emergency as measles spreads in undervaccinated areas
• ▪The United States reported 223 new measles cases during the week preceding October 6, 2026, according to data from the Yale School of Public Health

Debatable claims

• ▪HHS should reimburse physicians for reporting suspected vaccine injuries
• ▪HHS's focus on vaccine injuries is inappropriate during active infectious disease outbreaks
• ▪The NIH's new vaccine injury clinic will do more harm than good