The Liberty Daily 
(The Daily Caller)—Following a trip to the National Institutes of Health headquarters on Monday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a new federal initiative to investigate vaccine injuries.
Kennedy met with several vaccine-injured patients at the Bethesda, Maryland NIH headquarters to hear their testimonies and address the Department’s intent to prioritize the study of vaccine injuries, including a new research program at the NIH Clinical Center and a new billing code to reimburse doctors for filing reports of serious vaccine side effects, the New York Times reported Wednesday.
“We must listen to patients and families who report vaccine injuries — not dismiss or gaslight them,” the HHS secretary said in a Thursday press release. “President [Donald] Trump and I are building a health system that takes them seriously, follows the evidence, and uses what we learn to make vaccines safer. This is how we earn back trust in our public health institutions.”
The department announced in the release that it would be engaging in an agency-wide action plan to strengthen vaccine injury research, reporting and patient care.
Not only is HHS opening a new vaccine research clinic in the NIH but is implementing electronic health records, improving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) and proposed policies to reimburse physicians for reporting suspected vaccine-related injuries to the through Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
When asked for comment, an HHS spokesperson referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to the press release.
The NIH published two documents related to vaccine safety on its website in June: “Epidemiological Studies of Vaccination and Health Outcomes Across the Lifespan,” and “Using Clinical Studies and Human-Based Models to Understand Vaccine Mechanisms Impacting Efficacy and Safety.”
Vaccine injury is significantly underreported, a study from November 2025 currently available on the NIH-run PubMed Central found.
The study was originally published in a special issue of “Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease,” and found significant discrepancies in reports regarding “adverse events following immunization (AEFIs).”
“Underreporting of AEFIs is an issue that requires attention from both the scientific community and public health authorities, as it may hinder reliable vaccine safety assessment and contribute to increased vaccine hesitancy,” the study found.
Brianne Dressen, an effected patient who met with Kennedy, said she developed serious adverse effects from participating in a a clinical trial of a COVID-19 vaccine made by AstraZeneca, which was withdrawn from the market in 2024 after it was linked to rare-blood clotting disorder, according to the Times.
Dressen sued AstraZeneca and founded React19, a “science-based” advocacy group, that conducts research and seeks to educate people on vaccine injuries, the outlet reported.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may have spun the number of reported COVID-19 vaccine-related deaths in children after downplaying autopsy reports, according to FDA documents released by Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, the DCNF first reported in June.
Under former FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, the makers of COVID vaccines like Pfizer and Moderna were required to conduct more safety studies, and the agency signaled it would implement more rigorous standards for vaccines after uncovering COVID vaccine deaths in children. Since Makary’s departure in May, FDA has relieved the drugmakers of having to do these studies. The plans for more rigorous vaccine standards were scuttled.
Senior Investigative Reporter Emily Kopp contributed to this report.
