Suzanne Humphries on vaccines: what the evidence says · JRE #2294
SUBJECT: VACCINES
Not a true/false call. Every claim is logged with its sources; read the exhibits below.
passed in 1986. But before 1986, we had 1976, which was the swine flu vaccine fiasco. And that was a situation where there was so much injury that the vaccine producing companies were no longer able to get insurance. And so they went to the government and they said, we need you to indemnify us. And they did. And so the government absorbed all the lawsuit cases that happened as a result of the guillem barret that happened from then. And so that kind of set a precedent for 1986.
What the evidence says 01 / RECORD
The core history checks out. During the 1976 National Swine Flu Immunization Program, casualty insurers moved to cancel or refused liability coverage for the vaccine manufacturers, who then refused to supply the vaccine unless the government indemnified them, so Congress enacted Public Law 94-380 making the United States the exclusive defendant for injury claims under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Guillain-Barre syndrome cases were reported among vaccinees, prompting suspension of the program on December 16, 1976, and thousands of resulting claims were absorbed and paid by the government. One nuance: the sequence Humphries describes (insurance withdrawal forcing government indemnification) actually occurred before the program launched and the GBS injuries, not because GBS injuries had already accumulated. The 1976 episode is commonly cited as a precursor to the 1986 National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, though the more direct trigger for the 1986 law was 1980s litigation over the DPT vaccine that was driving manufacturers out of the market.