Vaccines not the cause of autism say the courts

According to an article published in Reuters, the U.S. vaccine court ruled against a couple families who were claiming that vaccines are the cause for their child’s autism.  As I read this article, I wasn’t surprised at all.  Of course they’re going to deny that vaccines are the cause of autism (like the tobacco industry would ever flat out say smoking causes lung cancer).  Well what did surprise me was that there is an entire program dedicated solely to the compensation of injury from vaccines called National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

The families sought payment under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault system that has a $2.5 billion fund built up from a 75-cent-per-dose tax on vaccines.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE51B4AN20090212

Hmm…something is fishy here.  This statement is taken right from the VICP website:

The VICP is a no-fault alternative to the traditional tort system for resolving vaccine injury claims that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines.

So if vaccines were safe, why would the US department of Health and Human services create this program that has accumulated $2.5 billion?  You make the call.