The outgoing Biden administration has quietly extended a pandemic-era measure that protects Covid vaccine makers from lawsuits over injuries or deaths.
Health and Human Services (HHS) officials say this is necessary because there is still “a credible risk” that the pandemic will spiral out of control over the next four years, even though Covid deaths and hospitalizations are at a historic low.
The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act was initially enacted in 2020, in part to encourage vaccine manufacturers to accelerate their research into Covid vaccines without fear of being held legally responsible for things like side effects.
The extension, which was last extended in May 2023, also protects healthcare workers and hospitals that provide the vaccinations from lawsuits.
The move could anger the new Trump administration, which has banned prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been appointed head of HHS.
RFK Jr. has long flown the anti-vaccine flag, once claiming that the shots caused autism, and is now leading a movement that seeks to make vaccine manufacturers more accountable for vaccine harm claims.
This could also anger the small but growing number of Americans who say they have been hurt by the vaccines and claim they are being ignored.
Figures from national programs that exist to compensate those injured by vaccines show that there have been 13,000 claims that the Covid vaccine or other Covid treatments have caused injuries. 10,000 of these are awaiting review, meaning that only about 3,000 of these claims have been reviewed as of 2020.
Brianne Dressen, 42, is suing AstraZeneca after taking part in their Covid vaccine trial. She said their shot left her “permanently disabled.”
Ms Dressen is pictured above in hospital, following her reaction to the vaccine
Claims over injuries from Covid vaccines are not covered by the HHS’s Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), which exists to pay people who claim they were injured by standard vaccines while shielding pharmaceutical companies from liability.
People with vaccine injury claims specific to Covid will instead be covered by a program called the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP).
This program allows people injured by the Covid vaccine to apply for financial compensation, without specifically holding the companies that made the vaccine responsible.
Representatives of HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, announced the move two days ago. In it, they said the move would not affect the CICP or VICP.
Dr. Michael Hogue, the CEO of the American Pharmacists Association, said the decision “will continue to save lives and reduce health care costs, especially in rural and underserved areas where the local pharmacy may be the only health care provider for miles.”
The PREP Act was initially enacted in 2020 by former HHS head Alex Azar II, in the early days of the Covid pandemic, to mobilize against the virus.
It was created in 2005 for use in public health emergencies, to ensure that people who take action to prevent the spread of highly contagious diseases are held legally responsible for things like side effects of experimental treatments.
It covers pharmacists, technicians, doctors, nurses and other persons authorized to prescribe or administer vaccines or other ‘countermeasures’ against highly contagious diseases, such as antiviral drugs or vaccines.
There are exceptions to the rule when someone acts with ‘intentional misconduct’, which includes knowingly ignoring medical advice or acting recklessly.
The PREP Act of 2020 has since been renewed about a dozen times to address Covid concerns, but this latest expansion appears to be the furthest reaching.
HHS representatives said they issued this extension because they: “have determined that there is a credible risk that COVID-19 could pose such an emergency in the future and are therefore amending this statement to prepare for and mitigate that risk.”
Although most current monitoring efforts have declined, some estimates suggest that Covid 19 has infected 99 million Americans since 2020.
According to the CDC, of the 1.2 million deaths from the disease in the past four years, about 44,400 occurred in 2024.
Army National Guard Specialist Karoline Stancik, 24, said she had a ‘debilitating heart condition’ due to COVID vaccine
Dr. Niels Riedemann, an intensive care physician and immunology researcher said: ‘The reality is that COVID-19 remains a unique and deadly threat to many people – it is not just a respiratory virus and should not be treated as such by our leaders.’
Vaccination is the first step in the CDC’s list of preventative measures against Covid, and is considered a frontline defense around the world.
It does not prevent everyone from contracting the virus, but it makes it much less likely that someone will become seriously ill or die if they do contract the virus.
Covid vaccines are estimated to have prevented more than 3.2 million deaths and 18.5 million hospitalizations in the United States through 2022, according to research from the United States. The Commonwealth Fund.
In the US, citizens can choose between vaccines from Moderna, Pfizer and Novavax.
According to data from the CDC, in about one in 200,000 cases, a person will develop an allergic reaction or heart problems called myocarditis or pericarditis in response to a Covid vaccine.
Myocarditis and pericarditis are swelling and irritation of the heart tissue, which can cause damage leading to scarring of the heart muscle, causing long-term problems with heart function.
Army National Guard Specialist Karoline Stancik, 24, came out earlier this year claiming she developed a heart problem after being vaccinated.
She was diagnosed with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), a condition in which a person’s heart rate becomes confused when switching between sitting and lying positions. This can cause fainting, fast heart rate and dizziness.
Stancik said she has had three heart attacks and a mini-stroke and is now getting a pacemaker
Stancik told NewsNation that she has had three mini heart attacks since getting the vaccine, despite having no pre-existing heart conditions, and had to have a pacemaker installed to regulate her heart rate.
Stancik was one of many soldiers who received the vaccine when it was made mandatory. The military reversed this ruling in January 2023.
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, acknowledged these cases and expressed sympathy for those with vaccine-related injuries.
Still, he said, the risk of not getting vaccinated is far greater than the risk of vaccination.
Offit said: “In 2021, you were 12 times more likely to be hospitalized and die if you didn’t get a vaccine than if you did get one.
‘In 2022, the following year, you were six times more likely to be hospitalized and die.
‘The choice not to get a vaccine is not a risk-free choice. It’s a choice to take another risk more seriously now.’