In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). This law created immunity for pharmaceutical companies from lawsuit over claims from vaccine injury. The thought at the time was that if companies could be held liable for injury, it would reduce the profitability of vaccines. As an alternative, the National Vaccine Injury Compensation program was created to provide compensation from vaccine related injuries and death (which does occur) from a federal claims department, with money paid out by US tax dollars.

Fast forward to 2017. With the increase in the number of vaccines from 10 in the 1980s to well over 30 in 2017, the vaccine industry rakes in multi-billions in profits annually. The question now is-  Should pharmaceutical companies have no liability for shoddy safety testing or products that are rushed to the shelf? Since 1988, over 18,539 petitions have been filed with the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program with tax dollars paying out total compensation of over $3.7 billion dollars.

No liability equals no reason to improve. Pharmaceutical companies must be held liable in the court of law when people are injured from vaccines, just like every other drug. There is no doubt that vaccines have saved lives. However, we need to ensure that each and every dose of every shot is held to the highest standards possible. When they are not, pharmaceutical companies must pay damages, not the US taxpayer.