What’s the Difference Between Companies Selling Cigarettes and Companies Selling Vaccines?

What’s the Difference Between Companies Selling Cigarettes and Companies Selling Vaccines?
Posted: 5/23/2017 

By Barbara Loe Fisher

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Do you know the difference between companies that sell cigarettes and companies that sell vaccines in America?

When cigarettes injure or kill people, tobacco companies are financially liable in civil court. But when vaccines injure or kill people, drug companies are not.

That’s right.

If you get lung cancer from smoking cigarettes, you can sue the tobacco company. ¹ But if you or your child suffers brain damage or dies after getting a vaccine, the drug company cannot be sued. ²
And you can’t hold any person who licensed, recommended, gave or voted to mandate the vaccine accountable in a court of law, either. ^{3 4}

Here is why:

In 1986, Congress gave drug companies a partial civil liability shield for vaccine injuries and deaths. ⁵

In 2011, the US Supreme Court effectively banned all vaccine injury lawsuits, ruling that vaccines are - quote - “unavoidably unsafe.” ⁶

Then, in 2016, Congress lowered licensing standards for experimental vaccines so that drug companies can fast track them to market without conducting large clinical trials. ⁷

Now, drug companies and their friends in medical trade are lobbying state legislatures to strip vaccine exemptions from state public health laws. ^{8 9}

That’s right.

Even though drug companies and doctors have been given an unprecedented liability shield removing all responsibility for vaccine injuries and deaths, ¹⁰ they want more.

They want “no exceptions” vaccine laws forcing you and your children to use every dose of every government endorsed vaccine without your voluntary, informed consent. ¹¹

What’s the difference between companies that make cigarettes and companies that make vaccines?

When cigarettes injure and kill people, Big Tobacco is legally accountable in a civil court in front of a jury of your peers. But when vaccines injure and kill people, Big Pharma is not.

At NVIC.org, learn more about vaccines, diseases and the human right to informed consent to medical risk taking.

Empower yourself today with well-referenced information that can help you make educated decisions about vaccination.

It’s your health. Your family. Your choice.

 

1 Sifferlin A. $23.6 Billion Lawsuit Winner to Big Tobacco: “Are You Awake Now?” Time Magazine July 22, 2014.
2 Leibowitz B. Supreme Court vaccine ruling: parents can’t sue drug makers for kids’ health problems. CBS News Feb 23, 2011.
3 Khoury G. Can You Sue Government Officials? FindLaw Feb. 8, 2017.
4 Meyers PH. Fixing the Flaws in the Federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Administrative Law Review 2011; 63(4).
5 Pear R. Reagan Signs Bill on Drug Exports and Payment for Vaccine Injuries. New York Times Nov. 15, 1986.
6 NVIC. National Vaccine Information Center Cites “Betrayal” of Consumers by U.S. Supreme Court Giving Total Liability Shield to Big Pharma. Business Wire Feb. 23, 2011.
7 NVIC. National Vaccine Information Center Calls 21^st Century Cures Act “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing” and Urges Presidential Veto to Protect Public Health. Business Wire Feb. 8, 2016.
8 Fisher BL. Defending the Religious Exemption to Vaccination. NVIC Newsletter June 28, 2016.
9 National Vaccine Information Center. NVIC Now Monitoring 134 Vaccine Bills in 35 States: 31 More Vaccine Bills Introduced in Past Two Weeks. NVIC Newsletter Feb. 26, 2017.
10 Fisher BL. Vaccine Injury Compensation: Government’s Broken Social Contract with Parents. NVIC Newsletter Nov. 2, 2015.
11 Fisher BL. The Vaccine Culture War in America: Are You Ready? NVIC Newsletter Mar. 8, 2015.