Two Babies. One Government Program. Zero Consent.

Ross Otto Hambrick and Victor Marcellus King were infants in 1965 and 1966 when they were allegedly enrolled in a U.S. government-backed experimental vaccine trial. Both boys died in January 1967.

Nearly 60 years later, their families say they had no idea any of this happened.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump filed a federal lawsuit on May 28, 2026, accusing the National Institutes of Health of secretly selecting vulnerable Black infants from low-income families to participate in a concentrated, experimental RSV vaccine study identified in the complaint as "Lot 100." The lawsuit was filed under the Federal Tort Claims Act against the United States government.

According to the press release issued by Ben Crump Law, the complaint also alleges that tissue samples harvested from the boys' autopsies were later used in research that contributed directly to RSV vaccines approved by the FDA in 2023 — vaccines that generated enormous commercial returns for pharmaceutical manufacturers.

The bodies of two Black infants allegedly helped build a billion-dollar vaccine market. Their families got nothing. Not a check. Not a call. Not an apology.

What the Lawsuit Actually Claims

The complaint, reported across TheGrio, Revolt TV, and other outlets, makes several specific and serious allegations:

• The NIH intentionally selected Black infants from low-income families for a dangerous, high-concentration experimental vaccine trial.
• Neither the Hambrick nor the King families were informed they were participating in a federal experiment.
• Tissue samples from the autopsies contributed to RSV vaccine development spanning decades — culminating in FDA approvals in 2023.
• The families have never received compensation or formal acknowledgment from the federal government.

Crump is joined by attorneys William H. Murphy Jr., Carol Lexing Powell, Malcolm P. Ruff, and Nabeha Shaer.

Background on the Allegations

These allegations were previously examined in a 2023 investigation by Undark, a science-focused journalism outlet. That investigation detailed the early history of RSV vaccine research and the deaths connected to it. The lawsuit builds on documented investigative journalism.

Journalists flagged these issues years ago. The government had time to respond. It did not.

The Historical Context

The United States government has a documented history of using Black Americans as unconsented medical research subjects.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study — in which the U.S. Public Health Service deliberately withheld syphilis treatment from Black men from 1932 to 1972 — ran for 40 years before a whistleblower stopped it.

The NIH itself, under Dr. Robert Stone's leadership, conducted RSV vaccine research in the 1960s that resulted in the deaths of multiple infants. That is established medical history. The dispute here is whether these specific children were enrolled without consent and whether their families were deliberately kept in the dark.

What the Media Coverage Shows

Left-leaning outlets are covering this primarily as a racial justice story — which it is — but have given limited attention to the specific government accountability angle. The NIH is a federal institution. It answers to Congress and ultimately to the American taxpayer. This is both a civil rights lawsuit and an indictment of federal bureaucratic power operating without oversight or accountability.

Meanwhile, right-leaning outlets have been largely silent on this story. If the principle of limited government and holding federal agencies accountable matters, this case involves federal bureaucrats allegedly using vulnerable children as lab subjects without consent.

Government abusing its power over citizens — especially the most vulnerable — is wrong regardless of political affiliation.

The Statute of Limitations Problem

The Federal Tort Claims Act has strict filing deadlines. Claims like these typically must be filed within two years of when the plaintiff knew or should have known about the injury.

The families' attorneys will almost certainly argue the clock did not start until the families actually learned of the alleged experiments. If a court disagrees, the case could be dismissed on procedural grounds before a single fact is tested.

What This Means

If the allegations in this lawsuit are proven true, here's what the record shows:

An NIH-sponsored program allegedly targeted Black infants — the most defenseless population imaginable — ran dangerous vaccine experiments on them, watched them die, harvested their tissue, and then used that research to develop products that made pharmaceutical companies rich six decades later.

And the families never got so much as a letter.

Your government did this. With your tax dollars. And it stayed buried for nearly 60 years until journalists and lawyers started pulling threads.

The NIH, for its part, has issued no public response to the complaint as of the time of filing.