Frequently Asked Questions

If you filed your claim electronically, you are now able to check your real-time claim status through the DICP Submit Portal. However, if you filed your claim by mail, please continue to use the CICP call center (1-855-266-2427) or email CICP@hrsa.gov to check your claim status. If you have provided an email address to the CICP, you will also receive email notifications from CICP@hrsa.gov when your CICP claim status changes.  Please call 1-855-266-2427 to add or update your email address on an existing claim.

If you believe you or another person has been seriously injured by a covered countermeasure, you can submit a Request for Benefits by filling out the Request for Benefits Form (PDF - 245 KB) or submitting a Letter of Intent to the CICP. The letter of intent is only accepted for the purposes of meeting the filing deadline. All Request for Benefits Forms or Letters of Intent must be filed within one (1) year of receiving the countermeasure that is alleged to have caused the injury. All requesters who have submitted Letters of Intent must still file Request Forms as soon as possible.

Learn more about the CICP Filing Process.

The Federal Register indicates that Letters of Intent are acceptable to establish that their Requests for Benefits are completed within the one-year deadline. Letters of Intent should include your full name and a statement that demonstrates your intent to submit a Request for Benefits. Please do not include any additional personal identifiable information (Social Security Number, medical, legal, or financial documents) in this letter. Letters of Intent should be submitted via U.S. Postal Service mail or a private courier at the following address or through our online portal. CICP does not accept Letters of Intent via fax or email.

Health Resources and Services Administration
Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 8W-25A
Rockville, MD 20857

However, requesters who have submitted Letters of Intent must still file Request for Benefits Forms as soon as possible.

Yes, you have ONE (1) YEAR from the date that the covered countermeasure was received to file for CICP benefits by submitting a Request for Benefits Form (PDF - 245 KB).

If an individual receives a covered countermeasure and has been seriously injured by it, a representative may submit a Request for Benefits (PDF - 245 KB) with the CICP on his/her behalf.

Please note that in cases where the injured countermeasure recipient is a minor or an adult who lacks the legal capacity to file for or receive benefits, a legal or personal representative must be used.

The CICP is not authorized to provide reimbursement for attorneys’ fees.

No, as long as other eligibility requirements are satisfied, CICP benefits may be paid without regard to United States citizenship.

Yes. Members of the Uniformed Services (i.e. the armed forces, the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service) may file a Request for Benefits. Individuals stationed at American embassies, military installations abroad, or NATO installations where American service personnel are stationed may file a Request for Benefits (PDF - 245 KB).

Learn more about the PREP Act Declarations for vaccines commonly administered to military or embassy personnel or the CICP Filing Process.

Yes. Please note that the CICP is the payer of last resort and can only reimburse or pay for medical services or items or lost employment income that are not covered by other third-party payers, such as Worker’s Compensation.

If you are determined eligible for CICP benefits, you will be asked to submit documentation of any other third-party payers.

Learn more about the CICP Filing Process.

COVID-19 vaccines are covered countermeasures under the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), not the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) authorizes the CICP to provide benefits to certain individuals or estates of individuals who sustain a covered serious physical injury as the direct result of the administration or use of covered countermeasures identified in and administered or used under a PREP Act declaration. The CICP also may provide benefits to certain survivors of individuals who die as a direct result of the administration or use of such covered countermeasures. The PREP Act declaration for medical countermeasures against COVID-19 states that the covered countermeasures are:

1. any antiviral, any drug, any biologic, any diagnostic, any other device, any respiratory protective device, or any vaccine manufactured, used, designed, developed, modified, licensed, or procured:
   1. to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, treat, or cure COVID–19, or the transmission of SARS–CoV–2 or a virus mutating therefrom; or
   2. to limit the harm that COVID–19, or the transmission of SARS–CoV–2 or a virus mutating therefrom, might otherwise cause;
2. a product manufactured, used, designed, developed, modified, licensed, or procured to diagnose, mitigate, prevent, treat, or cure a serious or life-threatening disease or condition caused by a product described in paragraph (a) above;
3. a product or technology intended to enhance the use or effect of a product described in paragraph (a) or (b) above; or
4. any device used in the administration of any such product, and all components and constituent materials of any such product.

Covered Countermeasures must be ''qualified pandemic or epidemic products,'' or ''security countermeasures,'' or drugs, biological products, or devices authorized for investigational or emergency use, as those terms are defined in the PREP Act, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and the Public Health Service Act, or a respiratory protective device approved by National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) under 42 CFR part 84, or any successor regulations, that the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services determines to be a priority for use during a public health emergency declared under section 319 of the Public Health Service Act.

For a category of vaccines to be covered by the VICP, the category of vaccines must be recommended for routine administration to children or pregnant women by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, subject to an excise tax by federal law, and added to the VICP by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. No COVID-19 vaccines currently meet these criteria.

If an individual received a covered countermeasure, such as a COVID-19 vaccine, during an authorized clinical trial, the person may file a claim with the CICP as long as other eligibility requirements are satisfied.

Pursuant to the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act, the Secretary of HHS has issued a Declaration (and amendments) concerning medical countermeasures against COVID-19, which declared that COVID-19 vaccines are covered countermeasures for the purposes of liability protection under the PREP Act. If all requirements set forth in the Secretary's declaration are met, a covered person is immune from liability except for "willful misconduct" with respect to all claims for loss caused by, arising out of, relating to, or resulting from the manufacture, testing, development, distribution, administration, and use of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The PREP Act created the CICP to provide compensation to individuals who sustain a covered serious physical injury or death as a direct result of the administration or use of a covered countermeasure (or to estates and certain survivors of such individuals).

For more information about the PREP Act, visit the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response website.

All publicly available CICP data is online.

To request additional CICP data, please send Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to:

HRSA Freedom of Information Act Office (FOIA)
5600 Fishers Lane, Room 13N112
Rockville, Maryland 20857

Generally, the following documents, including copies or mobile application screenshots, are acceptable proof of vaccination if the documentation includes the name of the vaccine recipient and date of administration:

1. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card issued by the vaccination site to the person who received the vaccine.
2. Official record from the State Immunization Information System (IIS) or other State immunization registry.
3. A record from a healthcare system or healthcare provider’s patient portal, signed by the treating healthcare provider, that documents vaccination by the healthcare system or healthcare provider. A healthcare provider is typically a:
   1. Licensed physician
   2. Nurse practitioner
   3. Physician assistant
   4. Registered nurse
   5. Pharmacist
4. A record from a healthcare provider’s medical record system (including a patient portal) that is either a:
   1. Vaccine Administration Record from the facility where the vaccine was administered that includes the:
      1. Vaccine administered
      2. Vaccination date
      3. Vaccine lot number
   2. Vaccination Administration Record from a facility other than where the vaccine was administered that includes the:
      1. Vaccine administered
      2. Vaccination date
      3. Vaccine lot number
   3. Healthcare provider order for COVID-19 vaccination that is signed as administered
   4. The vaccine administration is noted in the medical record by the treating healthcare providers (not the vaccine administrators) in the context of an adverse event meeting the following criteria:
      1. The adverse event immediately follows the vaccination.
      2. The adverse event results in emergent healthcare.
      3. The person who received the vaccine is transported via ambulance from a vaccination site to a hospital.
5. A military immunization or health record from the United States Armed Forces
6. Documentation of a COVID-19 vaccine dispensed from a pharmacy to the person receiving the vaccine