Senator Rand Paul Introduces Landmark Bill to End Federal Liability Shield for Vaccine Manufacturers
Are you celebrating this development.
On February 11, 2026, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), with cosponsor Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), introduced S.3853—“A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to end the liability shield for vaccine manufacturers, and for other purposes.”
This legislation directly targets the broad civil liability protections granted to vaccine manufacturers under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986.
That law established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP / “Vaccine Court”) and largely immunized manufacturers from design-defect lawsuits in both state and federal courts—protections no other pharmaceutical category in the U.S. enjoys.
If passed, S.3853 would remove these special immunities, holding vaccine manufacturers to the same product-liability standards that apply to every other drug and medical product company.
Injured individuals and families would once again have access to traditional civil courts and the ability to seek full accountability through the normal judicial process.
The bill is now before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) for review.
I have a link to for you to watch the progress of the bill in the comments…
Like so many of Senator Paul’s proposed bills, I fear this one will die in darkness, too. I doubt he’ll even get a majority of his own party to support it. It makes too much sense.
Are any vaccinations necessary/useful/needed? Like so many things, the devil is in the details. I hope we aren’t going to throw the baby out with the bath water.
It’s about time that pharmaceutical companies took responsibility for the harm any pharmaceutical (as well as vaccines) might cause individuals. At the same time, people also need to take more responsibility for taking the pharmaceutical, and, inform themselves (it’s not longer possible, sadly, to rely on doctors’ advice since they are largely ‘educated’ by the pharmaceutical companies) about the pros and cons of a particular pharmaceutical. For example, the recently withdrawn Hepatitis B vaccine given to newborns - what could possibly be the reason for giving a newborn ANY vaccine, especially Hepatitis B, unless the mother was shown to have the disease, be at risk for the disease or lived in an area/community where the disease was endemic/a problem? People need to understand the risk/benefit of any pharmaceutical and decide for themselves if it is worth taking it, but that would also require pharmaceutical companies to be transparent about the side effect statistics of their products! In my opinion, unless a disease is highly fatal (eg. rabies, yellow fever, ebola, etc.), the person is immunocompromised or otherwise in danger of death/serious disability from a disease, why bother with a vaccine? Stay healthy, keep your immune system in good shape, suffer a cold or 'flu occasionally (and yes, stay home and miss work/school) to keep your immune system primed, and get on with life! As for babies and infants, why are we still vaccinating for diseases like diphtheria? Unless someone plans to travel to Africa or some remote areas of Asia with their baby, why bother with the vaccine? Conversely, why are young people no longer being vaccinated for tuberculosis (BCG vaccine)? There is still plenty of tuberculosis in the world but to my knowledge, it’s off the ‘schedule’ unless travelling to an area of endemic tuberculosis. I am not against vaccination, but I do believe people need to understand what they are taking and why, and not just blithely be told they must have this vaccine or that medication without understanding the potential negative effects.
As an organization, we stand for proper informed consent so people can decide for themselves when looking at the risk versus benefit of any medication.
It seems to me, that removing immunity will ensure that the products coming to market are truly safe.