Government Concedes Vaccines May Have Injured Georgia Girl
Associated Press
Wed March 5, 2008
Area: Atlanta
Government health officials have conceded that childhood vaccines worsened a rare, underlying disorder that ultimately led to autism-like symptoms in a Georgia girl. The officials recommend that she should be paid from a federal vaccine-injury fund.
Medical and legal experts say the narrow wording and circumstances probably make the case an exception -- not a precedent for thousands of other pending claims.
But parents and advocates for autistic children see the case as a victory that may help certain others. Although the science on this is very limited, the girl's disorder may be more common in autistic children than in healthy ones.
A lawyer for the nine-year-old girl has scheduled a news conference in Atlanta tomorrow. Her parents have declined to comment in the meantime because the case is not final and the payment amount has not been set.
Nearly 5,000 families are seeking compensation for autism or other developmental disabilities they blame on vaccines.
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