Vaccine Maker's Immunity
Vaccine maker’s immunity was reaffirmed in February 2011 in the case of Bruesewitz v. Wyeth where the Supreme Court of the United States dealt with the issue of whether federal law protects pharmaceutical companies from lawsuits by parents who claim that vaccines have harmed their children. The Supreme Court sided with the pharmaceutical companies in a decision issued on February 22, 2011. The Court stated that Congress found that such a system of immunity was necessary to insure that vaccines remain readily available. The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, according to the Court, leaves complex judgments about vaccine design to the Food and Drug Administration and to the National Vaccine Program rather than to juries.
To some extent this decision is consistent with the Supreme Court’s ongoing tendency to find preemption, i.e. that federal laws and regulations in many instances displace state and actions and lawsuits.
In this particular case, Hannah Bruesewitz began to have seizures as an infant after receiving the DPT vaccine manufactured by Wyeth. The vaccine court ruled against Hannah. That tribunal ruled that she had not proved that the vaccine harmed her.
The Supreme Court ruled that no vaccine maker could be held liable for death or injuries arising from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings.
