Source: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
WASHINGTON — The House Judiciary Committee discussed whether vaccine manufacturers should be held to more account in the wake of the COVID pandemic and some of the difficulties with vaccines that occurred.
The current statute says that vaccine manufacturers cannot be sued for any damages someone may encounter from a vaccine.
The law says “No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable in a civil action for damages arising from a vaccine-related injury or death associated with the administration of a vaccine after October 1, 1988, if the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings.”
The hearing on Wednesday mostly looked into the fallout from these vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna “rushing” the development of their vaccines and the “politicization” that followed when it came to requiring vaccines for kids or members of the military.
But, Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN-5th) wanted to know more about the ramifications these manufacturers could have faced if something horribly wrong could have happened as a result of their vaccines. She said throughout the pandemic there were many Americans who didn’t trust the vaccine for many reasons.
“Lack of transparency and lack of liability. That’s what creates a lack of trust,” she said. “This pandemic was really, unfortunately, a terrible example of that. But, also it was heavily politicized. We politicized people’s lives.”
Spartz asked for some perspective on the liability, or lack thereof, that vaccine manufacturers have.
“I’m not aware of any other product that has the liability protection that vaccines are provided,” said Aaron Siri, a lawyer who specializes in healthcare liability litigation. “Drugs come off the market all the time. That’s why many of the consumer products in this room and that you experience every day is safer. They have to pay if they injure people.”
Nothing was discussed further about possibly rethinking the law cited earlier that protects vaccine makers from being sued. Other experts at the hearing testified that these protections were needed because the vaccine saved many lives at the height of the pandemic. They also said there is recourse for people injured by vaccines through the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
