In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
He is now Trump's nominee to head HHS.
Congress established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1986 for children’s vaccines because an avalanche of litigation was driving manufacturers from the market. The program allows patients who believe they’ve been harmed by vaccines to file claims with the government for compensation, which are adjudicated in special vaccine courts.
Why do vaccines receive more liability protection than medicines? For one, the population of potential plaintiffs is much larger for children’s vaccines than for any other medical product. Juries are especially sympathetic when it comes to children, so the payouts and potential liability are also much larger.
If patients don’t like the vaccine court judgment, they can still sue manufacturers in federal court. But they rarely do since the standard for proving claims is higher in federal court. But as HHS Secretary, Mr. Kennedy could take action to assist his trial-lawyer pals.
The HHS Secretary can add or remove vaccines from the compensation program, as well as specify injuries eligible for compensation. Removing vaccines from the program would open up manufacturers to mass torts based on weak evidence, including animal studies and scattered human cases that purport to link injuries to the shots.
Profit margins on vaccines are typically thin, especially for those off-patent. Companies facing enormous legal expenses and potential damages might stop making vaccines, which is what happened in the 1980s.
Making more injuries eligible for compensation despite lack of causative evidence—e.g., autism for measles—would also invite more claims. This could bankrupt the program, which is funded by an excise tax on vaccines. That means Congress would have to increase the excise tax, which is paid by consumers, or backfill the compensation fund.