Kevin De Long, 51, who post-vaccine developed nephrotic syndrome MCD, a kidney ailment, told me he didn't file a claim because he couldn’t find a lawyer to take his case. “I made over 50 calls,” he said. “They didn’t want to pursue it.”

That’s consistent with what I’ve heard.Given the cap on damages, daunting odds of success and lack of a provision for attorney’s fees, plaintiffs lawyers are steering clear of the CICP. Siri & Glimstad name partner Aaron Siri, for example, told me that his firm has received thousands of inquiries, but has turned them away.

“The CICP is not a court,” he said, noting that it’s a part of the “same federal health department that licensed, recommended, and mandated Covid-19 vaccines, and then sits as investigator and ‘judge’ of any CICP claim. That is a mockery of the term justice.”

At the current rate of adjudication – 18 cases a month – it will take 38 years to get through the backlog.