Parents' Vaccine Petition is Untimely, Judge Affirms

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The medical community's recognition of a symptom of a vaccine-related injury or illness is a precondition that triggers the limitations period under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, a federal judge has ruled. Bono v. The Secretary of Health and Human Services, No. 02-1085V (U.S. Fed. Claims Ct.).

On April 30, Judge Christine Miller of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims held that a petition filed under the act by the parents of an autistic child is untimely and was properly dismissed by a special master.

In the months following his birth in March 1989, Scott and …