GOP Leaders Let Vaccine Makers Write Their Own Law

Posted on May 8, 2006

Republican heavyweights Bill Frist and Dennis Hastert inserted a provision into a bill in the dead of night that was worth billions to vaccine makers. Roll Call said the move was unprecedented.

Think Progress:

Last December, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and House Speaker Dennis Hastert inserted a provision in the Defense Appropriations bill that granted vaccine manufactures near-total immunity for injuries or deaths (even in cases of “gross negligence”) caused by their drugs during a viral pandemic, such as an outbreak of the avian flu. The legislation was “worth billions of dollars” to a small group of drug makers.

The provision was inserted in the dead of the night, after House and Senate conferees had agreed the provision would not be included in the bill. According to Roll Call, the brazen move was completely unprecedented.

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