 Since 1988, the program has been funded by an excise tax of 75 cents on every purchased dose of covered vaccine.To win an award, a claimant must have experienced an injury that is named as a vaccine injury in a table included in the law within the required time period or show a causal connection.The burden of proof is the civil law preponderance-of-the-evidence standard, in other words a showing that causation was more likely than not.