Hazlehurst
v.
Secretary of
Health
and Human Services

The Tipping Point of Justice for Vaccine-Injured Children

Countless vaccine-injured children who developed autism after receiving routine vaccines have been denied justice for decades.

Largely because the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) determined vaccines didn’t cause autism in three “test” cases. Those three cases determined the fate of 5,400 children in the NVICP’s Omnibus Autism Proceeding (OAP) — and those 5,400 children represent millions of vaccine-injured children. 

“The NVICP is one of the fundamental causes of the autism epidemic,” said CHD Senior Staff Attorney Rolf Hazlehurst. “Understanding why this is true and how the United States Department of Justice perpetrated fraud upon the courts, including the Supreme Court of the United States, is the key to ending the autism epidemic.” 

One of the ‘test cases’ in OAP was Yates Hazlehurst.

As a baby, Yates Hazlehurst suffered vaccine-induced neurological injuries and was diagnosed with autism at two years old. The NVICP denied Yates’ claim and the other two “test” cases. These decisions led to the dismissal of the 5,400 other claims of children with vaccine-induced autism.

Rolf Hazlehurst — Yates’ father — has never stopped fighting. For two decades, he followed up on every lead, looking for some explanation as to why the government denied his son’s injuries. His diligence brought to light a massive fraud upon the courts by U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys representing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in vaccine injury cases, from the NVICP to the U.S. Supreme Court.

5,400 children denied their day in court. Denied justice. Until now.

Hazlehursts’ 20-year pursuit of justice has reached a pivotal moment. On April 2, World Autism Day, Hazlehurst filed a motion to expose the alleged fraud, detailing shocking evidence that the DOJ attorneys knew at the time of the hearing in the very first “test” case in the OAP, prior to the Hazlehurst v. HHS hearing, that vaccines can and did cause autism.

Unbeknownst at the time to the petitioners and the NVICP Special Masters (since there are no judges), the DOJ’s star expert medical witness, Dr. Andrew Zimmerman — the world’s leading pediatric neurologist specializing in autism research — informed DOJ attorneys during the first hearing that he had changed his original opinion and determined that vaccines can and do cause autism in some cases. 

The DOJ attorneys boldly continued to claim that their expert physician’s opinion was that there is no scientific basis to believe vaccines cause autism, despite his advising them to the contrary. Ultimately, the DOJ’s actions directly impacted a pivotal Supreme Court decision in 2011, Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, which prohibits essentially all vaccine injury lawsuits against Big Pharma.

While the motion is on behalf of Yates, it is for ALL vaccine-injured children.  

Seeking justice for his son turned into a mission to expose the devastating injustice he came to discover and the abject failures of the “Vaccine Act.” Relentlessly following up on every lead, looking for some explanation as to why the government wrongly denied his son’s injuries, his diligence uncovered a massive fraud upon the court by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — particularly attorneys for the Department of Justice, which represents HHS in the NVICP.  

As the legal journey continues to unfold on this twisted miscarriage of justice, this motion underscores the imperative for accountability, transparency and justice in safeguarding public health.

Without CHD’s support, this motion could not have happened. Please consider a donation to CHD to keep this motion and other lawsuits going.

Understand the whole story in greater detail.