JAMA   
May 11, 2011, Vol 305, No. 18, pp 1833-1926
http://jama.ama-assn.org/current.dtl

Commentaries
Vaccine Liability in the Supreme Court: Forging a Social Compact
John D. Kraemer, Lawrence O. Gostin
JAMA. 2011;305(18):1900-1901.doi:10.1001/jama.2011.615

[First 150 words per JAMA convention]

On February 22, 2011, the US Supreme Court decided Bruesewitz v Wyeth LLC, 1 holding that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA) preempts all design defect claims against vaccine manufacturers in which the plaintiff seeks compensation for injury or death caused by a vaccine’s adverse effects. The public health implications are profound because Congress designed the NCVIA to safeguard a social compact—ensuring access to vaccines by preventing the uncertainty of litigation, while also ensuring vaccine safety and effectiveness.

The Challenge of Vaccine Availability

Vaccines are unquestionably among modern public health’s greatest triumphs. In the United States alone, the incidence of vaccine-preventable diseases declined from more than 1 million cases per year at the start of the 20th century to only a few thousand cases per year by its close. 2 Although vaccines remain a cornerstone of public health, they are far less profitable than most biologics, causing only a few manufacturers …