The purpose of the proposed research is to conduct a comparative analysis of the legislation providing for compensation to persons injured as a result of an immunization in California, Denmark, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Japan, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. Successful features of the legislation will be used to construct a compensation program suitable for the United States and model legislation will be prepared to establish such a program. The larger goal of the research is to provide, in a systematic and organized review, the necessary detailed information concerning the practical effect of actual compensation systems that will permit a constructive policy analysis of alternative ways in which persons who suffer adverse reactions to vaccines might be compensated. The study will use the comparative law method of legal analysis to analyze, compare, and create a typology of statutory compensation programs. It will use a modified case study approach to collect data from officials, by self-administered questionnaires and telephone interviews, concerning the actual organization, operation, administration, and results of each jurisdiction's program. The results will be combined and analyzed to distinguish specific features of particular programs or types of programs that may be adaptable to the United States from features unsuitable to this country.
