Guest Blogger: Christine Vara, Shot of Prevention

Editor's Note: Project Lawsuit Abuse regularly features the voices of advocates from across the country. Today, Christine Vara, lead contributor at Shot of Prevention, is contributing a guest post. 

How many people would suffer and die if manufacturers stopped making vaccines?  Fortunately, action taken by Congress in 1986 has protected us from discovering the answer to this question. 

At that time, media speculations regarding the safety of the DTP vaccine were fueling public fears and vaccine injury claims which escalated from one DTP-related lawsuit filed in 1979, to 255 cases by 1986.  History would show that the $3 billion sought by claimants was largely frivolous.  However, vaccine manufacturers were drowning in excessive legal action at that time and so they began abandoning the market in droves, dropping from 26 manufacturers in 1967, to just 3 by 1986.

Fearful that vaccine manufacturing would cease altogether, Congress took action with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) in 1986. This move not only ensured the vaccine supply, it took steps to compensate innocent victims who may have suffered legitimate injuries from vaccines through a simple and accelerated no-fault process. A claimant only had to document that a problem, taken from a special table of known adverse reactions, had occurred within a specified time frame following vaccination for their claim to be successful. 

One key element of this act was that a claimant must first go through a special Vaccine Court before attempting to sue a manufacturer directly.  If the family was dissatisfied with the outcome, they retained the right to sue in civil court. 
However, according to the act, manufacturers could not be liable if they had adhered to all regulatory requirements, had not committed fraud and had properly prepared the vaccine.

While it’s clear that the act shielded manufacturers from lawsuits, it’s valid to say that the resulting National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP) also ensured that families received appropriate compensation in a timely manner, free from costly litigation and without the difficult burden of proof.  Since its creation, the program has awarded 2,580 families with over $2 billion in claims, while also paying more than $124 million in attorney’s fees for all 4,908 cases brought to court. These statistics demonstrate that legal system is compensating those who are injured while also preventing the courts from being hijacked by personal injury lawyers and run-away litigation. 

However, in the recent case of Bruesewitz vs. Wyeth, we are reminded of just how fragile the system is.  In this particular case, the family was seeking a civil suit after the Vaccine Court dismissed their case based on the fact that their daughter’s injuries were not listed on the approved table.  Additionally, the family alleged that the manufacturer could have offered a similar vaccine that had proven to have less chance of side effects.

In anticipation of the Supreme Court ruling in this case last month, it became clear that the high court’s decisions would either reinforce the efforts made by Congress, or adversely impact the court system by subjecting it to an abundance of new civil suits. 

As detailed further on Shot of Prevention, the Supreme Court ruling, while unsympathetic to this particular family, was ultimately effective at ensuring public health from a larger perspective.  For now, the efforts made by Congress are still in force to ensure that vaccine manufacturing continues uninterrupted and that we are given access to life-saving vaccines.  

Christine Vara is the lead contributor at Shot of Prevention.  Her dynamic background provides a unique parent’s perspective to the blog’s ongoing discussion of immunizations, the science behind them and the choices that parents make to protect their children from preventable diseases.  As a dedicated mother to five children and wife to a military husband, Christine has often found herself perplexed by the overwhelmingly clinical nature of information about immunization.  Like any mom, she understands that the choices she and her husband make about their family’s health will impact not only the two of them, but also the lives of their children.  In an effort to better understand the facts about vaccine safety and preventable disease, Christine is embarking on a journey where she will chronicle her thoughts and concerns as a mother, as well as open up dialogue about these important topics on Shot of Prevention.