A group of advocates for people injured by COVID-19 vaccines is meeting with federal officials in Washington, D.C. on Monday through Wednesday of this week to discuss the scope of the problem and the need for compensation for vax-injured people and survivors of those who have been killed by the vaccine and related issues.

React19 leaders will be meeting with federal senators, members of Congress, and Food and Drug Administration officials primarily to discuss changes they say need to be made to the government's Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.  The VICP currently is not compensating most COVID-19 vaccine-injured people for their injuries, though many have reported being injured by one or another of the hastily approved government-mandated COVID-19 vaccines.  Vax-injured advocates say a small percentage of all injures are being reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) because health officials are strongly discouraging doctors from diagnosing such injuries as such and reporting them.

The meetings were facilitated by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-Ariz., 8th District), who was made aware of the plight of COVID-19 vaccine-injured people and the need for changes to the VICP by her former constituent, Steve Wenger.  He's a former Arizonan who was vaccine-injured in Arizona and now lives in Rogers, Minn.  Wenger and other React19 members will stress to federal officials the need for changes to the VICP, among other issues, including the hasty approval of those vaccines despite what they say was inadequate testing of them.

Wenger reluctantly got the jab while working as a construction project manager on a Native American reservation in Arizona, where COVID-19 had hit the community hard.  He was pressured to get the vaccine, and after he did, his health took a nearly deadly downward spiral, including being a quadriplegic for months.  He's been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré Syndrome, a disorder where the immune system attacks the body's nerves and can ultimately paralyze.

Wenger's health has improved considerably due to treatment, but his balance and ability to walk are still greatly compromised since he has no feeling in his legs from the knees down.  It's easier for him to ride his motorcycle than it is for him to walk with a cane, because walking on any uneven surface such as grass can make his ankles give out.

Still, the ordeal awakened in him a new faith in God and a new purpose: advocating for recognition of and help for COVID-19 vaccine–injured people.  That new purpose in life led Wenger to tirelessly advocate for vax survivors with various politicians and to eventually connect him with Rep. Lesko, who was his representative when he was living in Arizona.  Rep. Lesko facilitated the meetings of React19 members and federal officials.

"Our goal is to discuss the VICP and revisions that need to be done to it," Wenger said.

Whatever their outcomes, the meetings represent a tearing of the veil of government silence and denial regarding the safety (or lack thereof) of the various COVID-19 vaccines.  While admitting that the vaccines don't prevent people from getting COVID-19, the federal government and most government agencies still require employees to get one of the vaccines in order to work for them and are still maintaining that the vaccines are totally safe.

Changing the VICP to enable all COVID-19 vax-injured people to be compensated for their injuries would be an admission that the vaccines are not entirely safe.

Despite his compromised health, Wenger is upbeat and aggressive as a bulldog.  He plans to ask the FDA tough questions.

"This vaccine wasn't even tested on humans.  I'm going to ask them, how do you approve a vaccine that's not tested on humans?  They may slam the door in my face, but I'm going to ask them," Wenger said.

Jonathan Barnes is a freelance writer in Pittsburgh.

Image: CDC.