Leaders of the nation's system for helping people injured by vaccinations are vowing to better publicize the little-known program.

Meanwhile, the judge who oversees a special vaccine court worries that if more claims are filed, they will take even longer to handle than they already do.

The comments were made to government investigators, who reported on the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program several days after The Associated Press detailed the program's problems.

The AP found that instead of speeding help as intended in the rare cases when a vaccine seriously hurts someone, the program has heaped additional suffering on thousands of families.

The Government Accountability Office's report, released Friday, noted many claims now involve adults and flu shots, not children who received government-recommended vaccinations such as measles and .