Omnibus Autism Proceeding
The Omnibus Autism Proceeding was created by the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to handle the large volume of claims that vaccines induce autism. In order to ensure that the over 4,900 cases are dealt with in a timely manner, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims has divided the claims into three theories:
Theory 1
(conducted in 2007):
On February 12, 2009, the Special Masters ruled that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR), in combination with thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs), do not cause or contribute to autism.
Court Decision »
Downloads & Articles »
Theory 2
(heard in 2008):
On March 12, 2010, the Special Masters ruled that thimerosal-containing vaccines do not contribute to or cause autism.
Court Decision »
Thimerosal-containing vaccines alone can cause autism.
Downloads & Articles »
Theory 3
The theory that MMR vaccine alone can cause autism was voluntarily dismissed by the Petitioners’ Steering Committee in 2008.
Background
| Audio and transcripts from the official Omnibus Autism Proceeding site
Backgrounder on the Omnibus Autism Proceeding - Additional key filings and opinions
Proceeding Experts
Expert Bios
Paul A. Offit, MD
Dr. Offit is Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The mission of the Vaccine Education Center is to provide accurate, comprehensive and up-to-date information about childhood vaccines and the diseases they prevent to parents and healthcare professionals.
Dr. Offit is also the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is a recipient of many awards including the J. Edmund Bradley Prize for Excellence in Pediatrics from the University of Maryland Medical School, the Young Investigator Award in Vaccine Development from the Infectious Disease Society of America, and a Research Career Development Award from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Offit has published more than 130 papers in medical and scientific journals in the areas of rotavirus-specific immune responses and vaccine safety.
Dr. Offit is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine which combats the most common cause of severe diarrhea among children. Rotavirus results in the hospitalization of approximately 55,000 children each year in the United States and the death of over 600,000 children annually worldwide. For this achievement Dr. Offit received the Gold Medal from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Jonas Salk Medal from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. Dr Offit serves on the Board of Directors of Every Child By Two and served as a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He is the co-author of four books titled Vaccines: What You Should Know (Wiley, 2003, 3rd Edition), Breaking the Antibiotic Habit: A Parent's Guide to Coughs, Colds, Ear Infections, and Sore Throats (Wiley, 1999, 1st edition), Vaccines (Saunders, 2003 4th edition) and Vaccines: Expert Consult (Saunders, 2008, 5th edition). In addition he has authored The Cutter Incident: How America’s First Polio Vaccine Led to Today’s Growing Vaccine Crisis (Yale University Press, 2005) and Vaccinated: One Man’s Quest to Defeat the World’s Deadliest Diseases (HarperCollins, 2007, 1st edition). A seventh book, titled Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure (Columbia University Press) will be published in September of 2008. Dr. Offit lives with his wife, a practicing pediatrician, and two children in suburban Philadelphia.
Randolph D. Moss
Randolph Moss is a partner at WilmerHale LLP. He is co-chair of the firm's Government and Public Policy Litigation Group and a member of the Appellate and Supreme Court Practice Group and the Defense, National Security and Government Contracts Department.
Mr. Moss originally joined the firm in 1989, after serving as a law clerk to the US Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens. From 1996 to 2001, he served as a senior official in the US Department of Justice, culminating in his appointment by the President, and confirmation by the Senate, as the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel. Since returning to the firm in 2001, Mr. Moss has focused on complex civil litigation, appellate practice, administrative and constitutional law and national security law. He was recently recognized by Washingtonian magazine as one of the top constitutional and appellate lawyers in Washington, DC.
Mr. Moss's clients include companies in the financial, pharmaceutical, consumer goods, national defense and telecommunications industries, as well as governmental and quasi-governmental entities and industry associations. He routinely advises and represents clients before federal agencies, in the legislative process, and before state and federal courts, including the US Supreme Court and other appellate tribunals. Over the years, he has represented clients in class actions and other complex civil litigation, constitutional litigation, agency rulemakings and adjudications, judicial challenges to agency actions, responding to government requests for proprietary or customer information, national security matters and legislative matters often involving issues of tort reform, national security or constitutional law.
Mr. Moss is a Term Member of the Yale Law School Association Executive Committee and a fellow of the American Bar Foundation. He has frequently written about and testified before Congress on a variety of constitutional and administrative law issues. He authored "Executive Branch Legal Interpretation: A Perspective from the Office of Legal Counsel" in the Administrative Law Review, and co-authored "The Least Vulnerable Branch: Ensuring the Continuity of the Supreme Court," which recently appeared in the Catholic University Law Review. In recent years, Mr. Moss has addressed issues of federalism, the First Amendment, national security, presidential powers and executive privilege at events sponsored by the Federal Bar Council, the Federalist Society, the Cato Institute, the Brookings Institute, the Copyright Society, the American Constitution Society, the Center for American and International Law, the Campaign Media Center, Democracy 21, Roll Call, the Duke Law School Public Law Conference, the University of Maryland Law School, the American Conference Institute and the DC Bar Section on Litigation.
Mr. Moss received his B.A. from Hamilton College and his J.D. from Yale Law School. He was editor of the Yale Law Journal
Amy A. Pisani, MS
Amy Pisani is a leading authority in pediatric health advocacy. As the Executive Director of Every Child By Two (ECBT), Pisani has played an integral part in setting standards for child immunization in America today. For more than ten years, Pisani has worked with the board of directors to execute the mission and goals of ECBT, an advocacy group dedicated to ensure the immunization of all of America's children by the age of two. Pisani leads the group in legislative education, building alliances with like minded interests, and educating the public through various mediums, including the ECBT electronic newsletter and webpage.
As a mother herself, Pisani has first hand experience in immunizing by age two. Pisani’s commitment to pediatric health is also evident in several other roles. She has served as the Vice Chair of the Immunization Coalition of Washington, DC, and is a board member at The Center for Women’s Health. Pisani has also been active in several other children’s’ health coalitions including the Advisory Committee on Breastfeeding Practices, the Tobacco Free Kids Youth Action Network, and several National Immunization Program task forces.
Beyond pediatrics, Pisani gained broader healthcare advocacy experience as the Education Program Coordinator at the Optical Society of America, and as Senior Staff Specialist for the American Nurses Association.
Through Pisani’s leadership, ECBT successfully applied for incorporation and independent 501(c)(3) status, as a charitable, non-profit organization. Pisani maintains ECBT’s active, educational footing, through presenting at conferences, monitoring regulation and policy changes that affect immunization delivery and serving as a resource to immunization coalitions throughout the nation.
Pisani received her masters of science from Gallaudet University for the Deaf, Washington, DC, and her baccalaureate degree in Psychology from Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.