Yes, Vaccine Manufacturers SHOULD Be Sued!

I'm a lawyer by training, and a deeply rooted vaccine-disliking mama, and so I was intrigued to see that the United States Supreme Court has recently accepted a vaccine injury case.  A major issue before the Court is whether a family whose child has been injured by vaccines can sue for damages in state or federal court.

As the law stands now, a family who believes their child is vaccine-injured is not permitted to sue the vaccine manufacturer in court.  Instead, they must take their case to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, a no-fault alternative to the traditional court system that provides compensation to people found to be injured by certain vaccines.  While the program has paid $2 billion to vaccine injured families over the last twenty years, the reality is that only one out of three vaccine victims receive compensation under the program, and that the program only covers certain injuries resulting from certain vaccines.  Moreover, according to Barbara Noe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center, obtaining compensation from this "no-fault" program has become a highly adversarial, time-consuming, traumatic and expensive process for families of vaccine injured children. 

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by the pharmaceutical company - Pfizer - who clearly believes that our conservative leaning Court will continue to protect vaccine manufacturers from product liability.  The Obama administration is - to me, sadly - supporting Pfizer. 

I am by no means a litigation advocate, but I find it outrageous that vaccine manufacturers are protected from liability.   People can sue drug companies for damages caused by any number of drugs, but those who have lost children due to vaccines can not.  It's insanity.

The reason that so many vaccines are produced and rammed down parents' throats (and into childrens' bodies) is because vaccine manufacturers answer to no one.  No one.  They have more money than God and the lobbyists and lawyers to show for it.  And they can DO WHAT THEY WANT.   Proof? Think how those H1N1 vaccines sped right through the regulatory process.  Gack. 

If families could sue the vaccine manufacturers, vaccine injured families could have their day in court, just like the rest of us. They could have a chance to show before and after pictures of their precious child to a jury of their peers.  They could have a chance to let the public know about the dangers of vaccines and their contents.  They could have a chance to say to the vaccine manufacturers - "F-You - look what you did to my beautiful child." 

The broader impact, of course, would be to slow vaccine manufacturers DOWN.  The rate at which they are producing, and gaining regulatory approval, of vaccines is truly alarming.  The vaccine schedules are ever-expanding... children are being forcibly injected more toxic substances every year.   Lawsuits would make vax manufacturers more careful in developing their vaccines, more selective in choosing ingredients that have the potential to harm.  It would tie up a lot of their money in hiring lawyers and defending suits... perhaps that would give them less money to spend lobbying.

To those who would say that allowing civil suits would bankrupt the pharmaceutical companies, or slow their research into vaccines that could prevent unneeded deaths - I say bullshit.   They would not only survive - they would continue to thrive.  Most of the public still believes that vaccines are necessary and safe, and they will still continue to line up at their doctors' offices for shots.   They will continue to be eager to try out new vaccines that are developed.  Oh, no worries about the vaccine manufacturers.  The public will still put money in your coffers. 

Sadly, vaccine injured families aren't going to get their day in court.  Pfizer's high-paid lawyers ain't no dummies - they wouldn't bring this challenge to the Supreme Court if they didn't think they'd win.  Dollars to doughnuts the Court will protect vaccine manufacturers and, yet again, vaccine injured families will get shit on.

Wouldn't it be nice if I were wrong?

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