The Law Office of Renee J. Gentry, Esq.

11/03/2025

A legal effort could upend a nearly 40-year program that compensates people who say they were injured by vaccines, Lauren reports.

A federal court heard oral arguments in October on a bid to reopen one of the test cases in a 2000s-era vaccine-autism proceeding that seemingly settled the issue of whether childhood shots could cause the neurological condition — and thus require the federal government to pay injury claims to thousands of families.

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A legal effort could upend a nearly 40-year program that compensates people who say they were injured by vaccines.

10/30/2025

Changes To VICP Could Include More Special Masters, Settlements, Pharma Tax

While legal experts involved in vaccine litigation say Kennedy could make changes to help VICP function better, other experts fear Kennedy will, as one commentator said, “manipulate the VICP to make vaccines less available, more expensive, and more feared.” Read more.

As HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledges to make changes to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) but has yet to offer specifics, experts say potential shifts could include hiring more Special Masters, negotiating settlements with a higher proportion of claimants, or increasing the ta...

10/27/2025

Professor Renée Gentry dives into the advocacy efforts of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic, the public health impact of vaccine injury policy, and what changes may lie ahead.

Listen now! https://open.spotify.com/episode/66xu87n0ZO0jGiSMD5MQuA?si=pxXmbhF2QoGyjiZMWraCbA&nd=1&dlsi=839fa91392e241ed

Beyond the Casebook: Lessons in Law and Leadership · Episode

10/25/2025

We've received many questions about the government shutdown's impact on cases. Right now the Court remains open and operating. In addition, the Department of Justice vaccine attorneys are still working. However, the staff at HHS has been affected by the shutdown and are not working. This affects medical review as well as compensation. Delays in compensation payments to vaccine injured individuals will continue until the HHS staff returns.

10/23/2025

Insult To The Injured: The Case For Modernizing Vaccine Injury Compensation

We are an unlikely alliance—Gentry represents vaccine-injured claimants in seeking compensation, and Hughes represents and advises vaccine manufacturers—but we can easily agree that our nation’s approach to compensating vaccine-related injuries is disjointed, cumbersome, and glacial. It is certainly falling short of its commitment to balancing patient safety and public health needs.

Read more: https://www.healthaffairs.org/content/forefront/insult-injured-case-modernizing-vaccine-injury-compensation

10/21/2025

Gentry noted the purpose of the VICP was to give some protection to vaccine manufacturers from lawsuits, and said to do so, injuries should be added with an appropriate funding level to pay out claims.

“If you want to keep people from suing civilly, you need to cast the widest net possible in this program, and you need to make sure that it's funded and that it has special masters,” she said. “(The VICP) shouldn't be used to prove or disprove the safety of vaccines.”

A paper published in September warns adding autism to the list of vaccine injuries for which patients can receive federal compensation would be astronomically expensive and grind the program to halt, but a vaccine litigation expert alleges that’s an inflated estimate based on faulty assumptions.

10/21/2025

"The law limits the types of vaccines that receive liability protections, said Renee Gentry, a law professor and director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic at George Washington University Law School."

As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. seeks to change federal policy on vaccines, a billboard in Morgantown, W.Va., says vaccine makers are “exempt from all liability for vaccine injury and death.” That’s exaggerated.

10/20/2025

The Law Office of Renée J. Gentry accepts cases involving children and adults injured by or who have died as a result of receiving the following vaccines covered in the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program:

Vaccines containing tetanus toxoid (e.g., DTaP, DTP, DT, Td, or TT)
Vaccines containing whole cell pertussis bacteria, extracted or partial cell pertussis bacteria, or specific pertussis antigen(s) (e.g., DTP, DTaP, P, DTP-Hib)
Vaccines containing measles, mumps, and rubella virus or any of its components (e.g., MMR, MM, MMRV)
Vaccines containing polio live virus (OPV) or vaccines containing polio inactivated virus (e.g., IPV)
Hepatitis B vaccines
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) vaccines
Varicella vaccines (PLEASE NOTE: The Shingles vaccine is not covered under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.)
Rotavirus vaccines
Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines
Hepatitis A vaccines
Seasonal influenza vaccines
Meningococcal vaccines
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines

Learn more: https://www.gentryesq.com/

10/16/2025

3 Things to Do if You Think You've Been Injured by a Vaccine. Vaccine injury cases are very challenging. Read this throwback blog to learn the three things you can do to give you a head start on your case.

Vaccine injury cases are very challenging. Here are three things you can do to give you a head start on your case.1. Don’t Wait Like most legal cases, you have to file a vaccine claim within a certain period of time or you lose your right to file forever. You may have heard lawyers talk about a li...

10/13/2025

Are You Taking COVID-19 Cases? One of the most frequent questions I get is “Are you taking Covid-19 cases?” Unfortunately, the answer is no…for now. Those members of our community who were injured by the COVID-19 vaccinations deserve a fair shot at compensation for their injuries. Read more... https://www.gentryesq.com/post/are-you-taking-covid-19-cases

10/08/2025

CBS’ 60 Minutes featured GW Law Professor and Director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic Renée Gentry on its Sunday, October 5, episode. The episode segment, hosted by 60 Minutes’ Jon Wertheim, told the story of Jacob Thompson, a 13-year-old boy who Professor Gentry represented through the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Jacob suffers from rare side effects from the vaccines he received as a young child.

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GW Law Professor and Director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic talked about vaccine injury law on CBS' 60 Minutes Sunday, October 5, episode.

10/06/2025

It was great to have the opportunity to spend time with Jon Wertheim and 60 Minutes discussing the history of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, and its critical importance in Public Health. Learn more about updates on the COVID vaccine during 60 MINUTES Overtime.

https://youtu.be/ux17YcdpECI?si=hIxmGQYTPoPhinMh