I actually love most of Ronald Reagan's policies but the other thing he did that is absolutely unconscionable is pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. This protects vaccine manufacturers from being sued in civil personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits resulting from vaccine injuries. You can sue companies for other drugs, just not vaccines. So the vaccine manufacturers have no incentive to make vaccines that are safer, they have no liability for what they already produce. What is more, the vaccine schedule is so standardized, there isn't much reason to improve their effectiveness either. Why spend any R & D money, right?
That, and the psyop campaign to make anyone that even asks QUESTIONS about vaccines an ANTI-VAXXER ... well, we end up with a VERY corrupt system built around vaccines.
I'm not an ANTI-VAXXER. I just want progressive improvement on all fronts of science, including vaccines. I want the ability to question things that the "authorities" tell us, especially when it is self-contradictory. The reaction I get when I suggest this to some people borders on a religious reaction akin to telling a churchgoer that Jesus was really Satan or something.
So the vaccine manufacturers have no incentive to make vaccines that are safer
The whooping cough vaccine is already proven safe. The FDA ensured it was before it was brought to market. If you don't believe it's safe, then go fix the FDA regulatory process. Safety has nothing to do with the legal system. If you're relying on the legal system to ensure medical products are safe, then you live in some fucked-up The Jungle hyper-capitalism nightmare.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed because the 1980s anti-vax craze produced a storm of lawsuits against manufacturers, and the manufacturers were deciding it was easier to just stop making the product than defend against the lawsuits (or their insurers made the same financial decision). So supplies of what was a mandatory vaccine were drying up and becoming ridiculously expensive because of nonsense hysteria.
So the government stepped in and said they would cover manufacturers' liability for mandatory vaccines. You can still file injury claims. They just enter arbitration and winning judgments are paid out by the government instead of the manufacturer, I believe.
The bill also established mandatory reporting by health-care centers of adverse events following vaccination, and a committee to review research on adverse events. Parents must also be provided with information statements summarizing risks and benefits of the vaccine administered.
Seems like a WIN-WIN-WIN to me. Society has access to the vaccine again, a bunch of new government bureaucracy was created to waste more of our tax dollars to placate hysterical anti-vaxxers, and you can still file claims of injury. Just another day in America.
What would you rather have happened? Nobody can get vaccinated for whooping cough, because you scared all the manufacturers into stopping production?
I actually love most of Ronald Reagan's policies but the other thing he did that is absolutely unconscionable is pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986. This protects vaccine manufacturers from being sued in civil personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits resulting from vaccine injuries. You can sue companies for other drugs, just not vaccines. So the vaccine manufacturers have no incentive to make vaccines that are safer, they have no liability for what they already produce. What is more, the vaccine schedule is so standardized, there isn't much reason to improve their effectiveness either. Why spend any R & D money, right?
That, and the psyop campaign to make anyone that even asks QUESTIONS about vaccines an ANTI-VAXXER ... well, we end up with a VERY corrupt system built around vaccines.
I'm not an ANTI-VAXXER. I just want progressive improvement on all fronts of science, including vaccines. I want the ability to question things that the "authorities" tell us, especially when it is self-contradictory. The reaction I get when I suggest this to some people borders on a religious reaction akin to telling a churchgoer that Jesus was really Satan or something.
The whooping cough vaccine is already proven safe. The FDA ensured it was before it was brought to market. If you don't believe it's safe, then go fix the FDA regulatory process. Safety has nothing to do with the legal system. If you're relying on the legal system to ensure medical products are safe, then you live in some fucked-up The Jungle hyper-capitalism nightmare.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act was passed because the 1980s anti-vax craze produced a storm of lawsuits against manufacturers, and the manufacturers were deciding it was easier to just stop making the product than defend against the lawsuits (or their insurers made the same financial decision). So supplies of what was a mandatory vaccine were drying up and becoming ridiculously expensive because of nonsense hysteria.
So the government stepped in and said they would cover manufacturers' liability for mandatory vaccines. You can still file injury claims. They just enter arbitration and winning judgments are paid out by the government instead of the manufacturer, I believe.
The bill also established mandatory reporting by health-care centers of adverse events following vaccination, and a committee to review research on adverse events. Parents must also be provided with information statements summarizing risks and benefits of the vaccine administered.
Seems like a WIN-WIN-WIN to me. Society has access to the vaccine again, a bunch of new government bureaucracy was created to waste more of our tax dollars to placate hysterical anti-vaxxers, and you can still file claims of injury. Just another day in America.
What would you rather have happened? Nobody can get vaccinated for whooping cough, because you scared all the manufacturers into stopping production?