Wyeth to Seek Supreme Court Review of Georgia Court Decision

FDAnews Drug Daily Bulletin
(HERE)
Oct. 14, 2008  | Vol. 5 No. 201

Wyeth to Seek Supreme Court Review of Georgia Court Decision

Wyeth intends to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court a decision by the Georgia Supreme Court that allows a preemption case against Wyeth vaccines containing thimerosal to proceed. The Georgia court's decision affirms a lower court's judgment that the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Compensation Act does not preempt all design-defect claims. The suit alleges that vaccines made with the preservative, which contains mercury, caused neurological damage. The company says the Georgia court's ruling is directly contrary to provisions in the Vaccine Act.

Comments

[Kerbob1]

The number one issue is how many times did we see certain misguided individuals attempt to add Thimerosal liability protection to Congressional bills?

That means something.

[Media Scholar]

No offense to the bottom-feeders, but it's time for the heavy armour.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,998841,00.html

When he enrolled at the University of Redlands and learned that classes consumed only 14 hours a week, Boies set out to fill the extra time. Although he was married with two children by the end of his sophomore year, he piled on more work (teaching journalism at a nearby mental hospital),

[Twyla]

Per Mary Holland's Oct. 10 article, the Vaccine Act says:

“No vaccine manufacturer shall be liable... if the injury or death resulted from side effects that were unavoidable even though the vaccine was properly prepared and was accompanied by proper directions and warnings.”

From this language, it does NOT appear that the intent of this law was to provide total blanket immunity to vaccine manufacturers. Surely the intent was to provide legal immunity in cases where a vaccine was designed and manufactured with high standards based on the best of current science but problems occurred either because a very small subset of kids have rare reactions (and I don't mean 1 in 100) or the problem could not have been anticipated.

But when:
- alarms were raised about thimerosal years ago, and
- thimerosal was never tested for safety except on a small group of terminally ill people who died as expected back in about 1930, and on some dogs who became sick so thimerosal was found unsuitable for dog vaccines, and
- vaccines can be packaged individually at only a slightly higher cost thus making it unnecessary to use a preservative (instead of packaging in multi-dose vials), and
- mercury is known to be one of the most toxic substances on earth, and
- even after concerns were raised, shots with thimerosal continued to be distributed until existing supplies were depleted years later, and to this day (in most states) thimerosal continues to be used in flu shots for pregnant women and babies, as well as "trace" amounts of thimerosal in other vaccines, then
how can it be said that harm from thimerosal is "unavoidable"?

And, if nothing is done about the increased risk of harm when several vaccines are given at once, how can that harm be considered "unavoidable"?

If parental reports of adverse effects are simply ignored, summarily dismissed, and not studied, how can any harm from vaccines be "unavoidable"?

If safety problems are not addressed, how can the vaccines be considered "properly prepared"? How can vaccines containing thimerosal be considered "properly prepared"?

[TheProbe]

Told you so.

SCOTUS should take this case, as it is at variance with other jurisdictions and undermines the purpose and intent of federal law.

[Anne Dachel]

How interesting that this is announced in the FDA news bulletin.

Hello?

The FDA?

AKA...the agency that never tested or approved thimerosal?

They've got lots of explaining to do.

Anne Dachel
Media editor

[Stagmom]

Fed Up, you get a prize! And don't forget the lyric in the song, "You can't touch this!" which is what I expect the Wyeth execs are screaming in their boardroom right now. It will be interesting to follow the case, that's for sure.

"My my my my...."

Doo doo doo do, doo-doo, doo-doo!

[Fed Up]

LOL - nice picture: HAMMER TIME!