The Trump administration says it launched the center to study and treat reported vaccine injuries and rebuild public trust. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
says the goal is to listen to affected Americans, learn from their cases, and use the findings to improve care and vaccine safety. The facility is the NIH Vaccinology and Immunology Center, a clinic and laboratory program for studying health problems reported after vaccination and after infection. According to HHS, the broader initiative also expands injury research, reporting, and patient care across federal health agencies the HHS announcement.
Table of Contents
- What will the new center do?
- Why do officials say it is needed?
- How would injury reporting change?
- Who can seek help, and what limits apply?
What will the new center do?
The center brings patients, physician-scientists, and laboratory researchers together in one place. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and NIAID Acting Director John Powers III say the joint setting allows direct study of post-vaccination and post-infection problems the NIH statement.
Patients can receive evaluation and care while researchers collect clinical data and laboratory samples. Kennedy says the discoveries are meant to lead to better treatment and safer vaccines.
Why do officials say it is needed?
Officials frame the need as trust and visibility. Kennedy calls vaccine injury an invisible disease that deserves direct attention and study.
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Bhattacharya says listening to people who report injuries is how HHS earns back trust in public-health institutions, according to CIDRAP the CIDRAP report. The message is that acknowledgment, research, and care must come together.
How would injury reporting change?
VAERS, the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, is the federal system where doctors and patients report suspected side effects after vaccination. The administration proposes paying doctors for evaluating and reporting suspected injuries through a new billing code tied to typical Medicare payment. Other planned changes include: Together, the steps aim to make reporting a routine, paid part of medical care rather than an extra task.
- requiring electronic health records to capture vaccine-related adverse events
- simplifying CDC reporting through a modernized VAERS process
- funding outside researchers to study adverse events
Who can seek help, and what limits apply?
The program affects patients who report health problems following vaccination. Those patients can seek evaluation, care, and possible enrollment in research at the NIH Clinical Center campus in Bethesda, Maryland, marked open Oct. 5, 2026.
A key limit is expert pushback. Some vaccine experts and the NIH hospital board chair say current federal monitoring already detects rare adverse events and warn that the unannounced Oct. 5 ribbon-cutting could harm public confidence. Patients should keep vaccination records, symptom timelines, and prior test results when asking a clinician about evaluation or a VAERS report.
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