Rep. Gosar reintroduces bill to end vaccine manufacturer protections from injury lawsuits

Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona reintroduced legislation that would end pharmaceutical companies’ shield against liability for any potential harmful effects of the vaccines they manufacture.

“Big drug companies are making huge profits while people who are hurt by vaccines can’t get justice in court,” Gosar said, according to KAWC.

To change that, H.R.4668 is meant to “amend the Public Health Service Act to end the liability shield for vaccine manufacturers.” The current text has not yet been officially published but is expected to be substantially similar to the version he introduced last year that would allow individuals to “bring a civil action against a vaccine administrator or manufacturer in a State or Federal court for damages arising from such injury or death.”

That would eliminate the general immunity vaccine manufacturers enjoy under the federal National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 and allow for civil actions to be pursued regardless of whether a victim has filed a petition with the program.

According to details provided to Children’s Health Defense, the bill would also remove the statute of limitations for individuals seeking compensation under the previous law and eliminate the COVID-19 vaccines’ classification as “countermeasures” under the federal Public Readiness & Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act of 2005.