By Jessica M. DeBois | Legal Newsline
The Center Square

A Florida woman who claims she was injured by the COVID vaccine sued U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this month, in an effort to compel him to add the vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table.

Plaintiff Jeanne Materese filed her lawsuit Feb. 2 in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Fort Myers Division.

“By failing to add the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table, the Secretary is obstructing and frustrating a process intended to ensure that Ms. Materese and others injured by newly recommended vaccines have access to a compensation process ‘as soon as possible,’” her 13-page complaint states.

In her filing, Materese alleges she suffered an adverse reaction to a COVID vaccination in August 2021 that left her with a severe platelet formation and blood clotting disorder.

The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 created the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or VICP.

The VICP was created as an alternative to the tort system to allow individuals who suffer a severe adverse reaction from a covered vaccination to pursue claims for compensation in the United States Court of Federal Claims.

The VICP was specifically intended to provide injured persons with compensation “quickly, easily, and with certainty and generosity.”

Materese argues she should have a “preserved right” to file a claim for compensation for her injury under the VICP.

However, she contends her ability to bring a VICP claim has not been secured because Kennedy has not complied with the Vaccine Act, which requires him to add the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table.

Additionally, Congress has not been notified by Kennedy of the need to impose the excise tax on the COVID vaccine as required by the Vaccine Act, her filing argues.

“Congress created a process to ensure that new vaccines recommended for routine administration would be covered by the VICP,” the complaint states. “The first step is a recommendation for routine administration by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (‘CDC’).”

Following the CDC’s recommendation, the Secretary is required to add the new vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table.

When the Secretary adds the vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table, the right to seek compensation for an injury predating the revision accrues.

According to Materese’s suit, the date the vaccine is added to the Vaccine Injury Table triggers the eight-year look back provision, which also acts as a statute of repose. This permits claims where the vaccine injury occurred within eight years of the Vaccine Injury Table addition, and precludes claims for vaccine injuries occurring more than eight years before the Vaccine Injury Table addition.

Materese argues that by 2021 the COVID vaccine was recommended for routine administration to children, thus triggering the two-year deadline for the Secretary to add the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table.

“Significantly more than two years has now elapsed since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended the COVID vaccine for routine administration to children,” the complaint states.

“Because the Secretary has not added the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table as mandated, Ms. Materese risks having her right to file a claim expire under the Vaccine Act’s statute of repose as a consequence of the Secretary’s continuing neglect of this duty.”

On Nov. 25, 2025, Materese sent notice to Kennedy, informing him that he and his predecessor Secretary had thus far “failed to meet their obligations” under the Vaccine Act.

“Compliance by the Secretary with the requirements of the Vaccine Act in the addition of the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table will safeguard the right to compensation Ms. Materese, and others in the United States like her have suffered severe adverse reactions to COVID vaccinations, through the VICP as envisioned by Congress,” her filing states.

Materese is asking the federal court to issue an order compelling Kennedy to add the COVID vaccine to the Vaccine Injury Table.

Sarasota law firm mctlaw is representing Materese in the action.