Sen. Rand Paul unveils bill to end nationwide liability protections for vaccine manufacturers

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., introduced legislation this week that would eliminate federal liability protections for vaccine manufacturers, which is a legal shield that has been in place for four decades.

The bill, cosponsored by Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, was referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

If passed, the bill will make changes to the federal law to abolish the liability shield provided to vaccine manufacturers under the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which largely protects vaccine manufacturers from product liability lawsuits and requires most injury claims to be directed to a federal compensation program.

According to Paul, the bill would make pharmaceutical companies more accountable by allowing people to sue them if they believe they have been injured by vaccines.

Vaccine safety monitoring data maintained by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that there have been millions of adverse event reports filed. 

In the past, a study done in collaboration with the US Department of Health and Human Services found that the nation’s main vaccine adverse event reporting system captures fewer than 1% of adverse events.