A Critique of “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.” by
MacKenzie Sigalos.
When I first started researching my topic of mandatory vaccinations, I
encountered many different articles that lightly touched on the subject but never dug
beneath the real details’ surface. I was almost ready to give up until I finally came across
“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” by MacKenzie Sigalos for
CNBC. She is a senior producer for CNBC Digital, one of the country’s largest news
media platforms. It was at that moment where I realized that I found what I was looking
for. It was a very recent article that was originally published on December 17th an
updated on December 23rd. She wrote a very credible, informative article void of any
bias.
The article is about the legal immunity pharmaceutical companies have right now
while developing and administering a vaccine to the public during the current Covid-19
pandemic. In response to the sudden outbreak, Alex Azar, the Health and Human
Services Secretary, invoked the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act
(PREP) back in February of 2020. This law from 2005 gives legal protection to
companies that are making or distributing vaccines and treatments. They have immunity
to lawsuits unless there is willful misconduct. This means that companies like Pfizer and
Moderna fall under this protection until 2024. The purpose for passing such a rare
blanket immunity law was to get pharmaceutical companies to expedite vaccination
production without the fear of multi-million-dollar lawsuits for unintentional
complications such as deaths or major side effects.
In addition to introducing the PREP Act, the article breaks down how nobody can
be held liable for anything involving a bad Covid-19 vaccine reaction. “You can’t sue
the FDA for approving or disapproving a drug,” said Dorit Resiss, a professor at the
University of California Hastings College of Law. “That’s part of its sovereign
immunity.” (Sigalos) The article also states the difficulty corporations are having while
determining if their employees require immunization. Rogge Dunn a Dallas Labor and
Employment Attorney ultimately states that “Requiring a vaccine is a health and safety
