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You can’t sue Pfizer or Moderna if you have severe Covid vaccine side effects. The government likely won’t compensate you for damages either
Key Excerpts from Article on Website of CNBC News
Posted: January 11th, 2021
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/12/16/covid-vaccine-side-effects-c...
If you experience severe side effects after getting a Covid vaccine, lawyers tell CNBC there is basically no one to blame in a U.S. court of law. The federal government has granted companies like Pfizer and Moderna immunity from liability if something unintentionally goes wrong with their vaccines. “It is very rare for a blanket immunity law to be passed,” said Rogge Dunn, a Dallas labor and employment attorney. You also can’t sue the Food and Drug Administration for authorizing a vaccine for emergency use, nor can you hold your employer accountable if they mandate inoculation as a condition of employment. Congress created a fund specifically to help cover lost wages and out-of-pocket medical expenses for people who have been irreparably harmed by a “covered countermeasure,” such as a vaccine. But it is difficult to use and rarely pays. Attorneys say it has compensated less than 6% of the claims filed in the last decade. In February, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. The 2005 law empowers the HHS secretary to provide legal protection to companies making or distributing critical medical supplies. The protection lasts until 2024. That means that for the next four years, these companies “cannot be sued for money damages in court” over injuries related to the administration or use of products to treat or protect against Covid.
Note: There are political and legal barriers when seeking accountability and justice for the harms that people suffered as a result of getting vaccinated. In 1986, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), giving pharmaceutical companies blanket immunity from liability for injuries resulting from childhood vaccines.
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