Login
A group that advocates for people injured by COVID-19 vaccines is appealing after a Social Security Administration (SSA) program denied its request for internal documents and data.
A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) filed by React19 sought information related to the decision by the SSA’s Compassionate Allowances (CAL) program to deny the group’s request to add 10 COVID-19 vaccine-related injuries to its list of conditions eligible for expedited access to disability insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
Last year, React19 and Florida Surgeon General Joseph A. Ladapo asked the CAL program to include the 10 conditions. The CAL program is designed to fast-track disability benefits for people with severe illnesses that clearly meet SSA criteria.
The program rejected all 10 requests within 48 hours.
In response, React19 filed a FOIA request seeking documents and data that could shed light on the decision-making process behind the rejections.
In December 2025, the SSA rejected the FOIA request, calling it overly broad. The agency also denied the group a fee waiver.
React19 later submitted a revised, narrower request, but has not yet received a response.
Dr. Joel Wallskog, React19 co-chair and a Wisconsin orthopedic surgeon who was injured by a COVID-19 vaccine, told The Defender the agency’s blanket denial was “par for the course” in efforts to advocate for affected individuals.
“Their denial of our FOIA request only further highlights their intention to gaslight us and deny our existence,” he said.
Wallskog added:
“They are making a major mistake. We exist and we’re not going away. We demand they honor their legal obligation to provide us with the information requested in our FOIA.
“We also demand we meet in person with Social Security leadership, not a simple pencil pusher that makes template denials to our legitimate CAL applications.”
The U.S. government is typically required to respond to FOIA requests within 20 working days. React19’s most recent request was filed in February.
Christopher Dreisbach, the group’s legal affairs director, said that other React19 FOIA requests on behalf of people injured by COVID-19 vaccines have met similar neglect — some languishing for more than a year without any documents delivered.
Comprehensive proposals for vaccine injury conditions rejected in 48 hours
In September 2025, React19 submitted its proposal requesting CAL add 10 serious medical conditions to its list:
- Myocarditis and pericarditis (post-COVID-19 mRNA vaccine)
- Transverse myelitis
- Autoimmune-mediated small fiber neuropathy
- Dysautonomia and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)
- Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS)
- Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP)
- Tinnitus with neurological sequelae
- Thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS)/Vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia (VITT)
- Thrombotic sntiphospholipid syndrome (APS)
- Post-vaccination mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS)
Each submission included a description of the condition, its clinical features and medical codes, onset and progression, treatments, and supporting references from the peer-reviewed medical literature.
The group developed the proposal with Heather Hudson, the Florida mother behind Cody’s Law — named after her son, who was severely injured by the COVID-19 vaccine and is today fighting for his life.
Ladapo endorsed the request with his own letter to the SSA, urging it to include all 10 medical conditions and calling for a review board to monitor emerging data on serious vaccine adverse effects.
People with diagnoses on the CAL list are eligible for consideration for expedited disability insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
The SSA denied all 10 applications within 48 hours, each with identical boilerplate language — only the condition name changed.
Each denial stated that “SSA Medical Consultants and Policy Analysts previously completed a comprehensive review of medical literature and information on this condition,” and found it unsuitable for the CAL list.
Wallskog called the claim implausible. Many of the conditions, he noted, emerged specifically in the wake of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 shot and had little prior medical literature for the consultant to have already reviewed.
With no substantive response by the agency, React19 filed its FOIA requests and, in March, appealed the denial of its fee waiver.
Hudson called the denial unjust. “The CAL program has an obligation to be fair and objective in the decision making for all severely ill citizens, this includes severely ill vaccine-injured citizens who have injuries as severe and as dire as the cancer patients that the CAL program serves,” she said.
“Without a fair and thorough consideration of the vaccine-injured populations’ diagnoses, a significant amount of severely ill, needy and injured citizens will continue to suffer without these expedited CAL program claims processing.”
“Some will die without care,” she said.
This article was funded by critical thinkers like you.
The Defender is 100% reader-supported. No corporate sponsors. No paywalls. Our writers and editors rely on you to fund stories like this that mainstream media won’t write.
React19 also seeking a medical code for COVID vaccine injury
In a parallel effort, React19 last month petitioned the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to establish new medical codes to classify injuries and deaths specifically linked to the COVID-19 vaccines.
Medical codes are standardized codes used globally by healthcare professionals to classify patient diseases and medical conditions. They are an important tool for providers to identify, treat, track and bill for illnesses.
The CDC is considering the petition, which is now open for a 60-day public comment period. React19 is encouraging members of the public to submit comments in support.
The CDC has opened public comment on a proposed ICD-10 diagnosis code related to COVID vaccine adverse events.
We’re asking for a simple, respectful show of support.
Email: [email protected]
Deadline: May 15, 2026Please keep your message:
-Clear
-Respectful
-Collaborative… pic.twitter.com/W9otNrpt6p— React19 – Official (@React19org) March 25, 2026
Related articles in The Defender
- CDC to Consider New ICD-10 Medical Code for COVID Vaccine Injuries
- CDC Must Create Medical Codes to Track COVID Vaccine Adverse Events, Advocacy Group Says
- While U.S. Government Struggles to Process Claims, Nonprofit Awards $1 Million to People Injured by COVID Vaccines
- Over 1.5 Million People Who Reported COVID Vaccine Injuries Shut Out From Applying for Compensation
- ‘Cody’s Law’: Florida Lawmakers Weigh First State Law to Compensate Vaccine Injury Victims
