The charitable non-profit National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC) was founded in 1982 by parents whose children were injured or died following DPT vaccine reactions. Located in Sterling, Virginia, this charitable (501c3) organization is totally publicly supported by donations from citizens and foundations and does not receive corporate, federal or state funding. NVIC is funded by annual donor supporters, grants from philanthropic foundations and donations made by individuals for information that NVIC researches, produces and makes available to the public.

NVIC's co-founders worked with Congress on the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. This historic law acknowledged that vaccine injuries and deaths are real and that the vaccine injured and their families should be financially supported and that vaccine safety protections were needed in the mass vaccination system. The law set up a federal vaccine injury compensation program, as well as included legal requirements for vaccine providers to:

• give parents vaccine benefit and risk information before their children are vaccinated;

• keep written records of vaccine manufacturer names and lot numbers for each vaccination given;

• enter serious health problems following vaccination into a child's permanent medical record; and

• report serious health problems following vaccination to the federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS).
   

The law preserved the right for vaccine injured persons to bring a lawsuit in the court system if federal compensation is denied or is not sufficient. By 2010, the U.S. Court of Claims had awarded nearly $2 billion dollars to vaccine victims for their catastrophic vaccine injuries, although two out of three applicants have been denied compensation.

NVIC works to raise government standards for vaccine licensure and policymaking. In 1996, NVIC realized a major goal when, after 14 years of public advocacy, the FDA finally licensed a purified pertussis vaccine (DTaP vaccine) for American babies. In 1999, the live virus polio vaccine (OPV) was replaced by the inactivated polio vaccine and vaccine strain paralytic polio cases were eliminated in America.

Co-founders and members of NVIC have represented consumers on the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines, the National Vaccine Advisory Committee, the Institute of Medicine's Vaccine Safety Forum, the FDA Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the Vaccine Policy Analysis Collaborative, and the Consumers United for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Cochrane Collaboration – U.S.

In 1989, the organization held an International Scientific Workshop attended by pediatric neurologists, epidemiologists, neuroimmunologists, molecular biologists, bacteriologists and neuropathologists to evaluate the neurological complications of pertussis and the whole cell pertussis vaccine. In 1997, NVIC held the First International Public Confernce on Vaccination, which brought together more than 500 doctors, scientists, health officials, lawyers, ethicists, journalists and parents from 34 states and five countries to the U.S. Capitol to present new scientific data about vaccines and diseases and discuss the biological mechanism of vaccine-induced injury, death and chronic illness.

NVIC also held the Second, Third and Fourth International Public Conferences on Vaccination in 2000, 2002 and 2009. The 2009 Fourth International Public Conference on Vaccination held Oct. 2-4, 2009 had as its theme “Show Us The Science & Give Us the Choice” and featured 42 speakers and nearly 700 attendees.

Since 1982, NVIC has reached millions of families and provided information about diseases and vaccines to thousands of parents, health care providers and other individuals in the U.S. and around the world, who have contacted our organization. We publish a free online NVIC Vaccine E-newsletter  featuring breaking news about vaccination and an online newsletter summarizing state legislative vaccine issues emailed to those registered on the NVIC Advocacy Portal.

NVIC co-founder and president Barbara Loe Fisher publishes written and video blog commentaries, most of which are also archived on her Google word-searchable blog - Vaccine Awakening.

NVIC has operated a Vaccine Reaction Registry since 1982. Vaccine reaction reports can also be posted with photos on NVIC’s International Memorial for Vaccine Victims. Those families, who have suffered harassment when trying to make informed, voluntary vaccination decisions for themselves or their children, can publicly post their experiences on NVIC’s Cry for Vaccine Freedom Wall.

NVIC’s website also provides links to other websites and resources which provide more information about infectious diseases, vaccines, and new research into healing therapies for vaccine related illness and disability. The information provided is intended to assist in making informed vaccination decisions. We encourage the public to use the information we provide, as well as information from other sources and consult one or more trusted health care professionals before making a health care choice, including one about vaccination.