Rep. Gosar Reintroduces Bill to Strip Liability Protection From Vaccine Makers

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) on Tuesday reintroduced legislation to end the liability shield for vaccine manufacturers and allow people injured by a vaccine to sue the drug’s manufacturer.

Children’s Health Defense (CHD) is one of the bill’s supporters.

The End the Vaccine Carveout Act targets two federal laws that give legal immunity to vaccine makers — the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 (NCVIA) and the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act of 2005 (PREP Act).

The NCVIA’s liability shield covers vaccines recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for routine use in children or pregnant women.

The PREP Act protects manufacturers from liability for injuries or death caused by vaccines or other countermeasures implemented during a public health emergency.

“Current immunity provisions unfairly shielding Big Pharma from the harms caused by their products prevent those injured by vaccines to pursue a civil lawsuit in state or federal court,” Gosar said in the press release.

Gosar’s bill removes language in the NCVIA that requires people injured by vaccines to first seek compensation through the government-run National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).

Under the new legislation, the vaccine-injured could file lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers while also submitting a VICP claim.

In a press release, Gosar’s office said the VICP sets an unreasonably high bar for claimants to meet:

“The plaintiff must prove that the vaccine manufacturer deliberately ‘[withheld] information relating to the safety or efficacy of the vaccine,’ engaged in ‘criminal or illegal activity relating to the safety and effectiveness of vaccines,’ or ‘by clear and convincing evidence … failed to exercise due care.’

“Satisfying these requirements is practically an impossibility.”

The issue of holding vaccine makers legally accountable for injuries caused by their products came up last week, during a U.S. Senate hearing on vaccine injuries. Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), a staunch vaccine supporter, suggested it was time to revisit the liability issue, as did Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), who told witnesses that when it comes to the drug industry, “The government has decided that this particular industry gets a free pass.”

Sen. Moreno on blanket immunity for vaccine manufacturers:

“What’s interesting about this industry … the government has decided … that this particular industry gets a free pass … that this particular industry doesn’t have to be liable to anybody.” pic.twitter.com/WkIeRt6bGF

— Children’s Health Defense (@ChildrensHD) July 18, 2025

Liability shield has led to ‘billions of dollars in profits for Big Pharma’

Gosar’s bill would allow the vaccine-injured to file a claim for any injury sustained since the NCVIA’s inception in 1988. This would end the NCVIA’s two-year statute of limitations for deaths and three-year statute of limitations for injuries.

It would also allow people injured by COVID-19 vaccines, now protected under the PREP Act, to sue the makers of those vaccines.

Last week, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced a separate piece of legislation that, if passed, would also repeal the “sweeping” liability shield that exempts COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers from responsibility for serious injuries or death caused by their products. Massie is also a cosponsor of Gosar’s bill.

The Biden administration declared the COVID-19 public health emergency over in May 2023. However, in December 2024, President Joe Biden extended the liability shield for COVID-19 countermeasures under the PREP Act through the end of 2029 — the 12th such extension since 2020.

Gosar’s bill also would allow people injured by a COVID-19 vaccine to file a claim with VICP instead of the Countermeasures Injury Compensation Program (CICP), a government-run program established under the PREP Act.

CICP has faced criticism for its slow pace in resolving claims and the limited compensation it offers. As of June 1, of the 13,836 claims related to COVID-19 countermeasures filed with CICP to date, 75 were found eligible for compensation and 39 of those have been compensated. The overwhelming majority of claims were denied (4,338) or are “pending review or in review” (9,423).

Gosar said the NCVIA and PREP Act liability shields have “resulted in hundreds of billions of dollars in profits for Big Pharma while leaving tens of thousands of people without the ability to seek legal justice and compensation for injuries caused by vaccines.”

He said there is “an unfortunate lack of science regarding the dangerous side effects of vaccines,” due in part to a “massive conflict of interest” by regulators at the CDC and the National Institutes of Health, who approve vaccines.

28 cosponsors in just 2 days

CHD CEO Mary Holland welcomed Gosar’s bill. She called the NCVIA a “catastrophic error in judgment that has led to grievous harm,” adding:

“It emboldened the pharmaceutical industry and the medical establishment to disregard safety as they no longer had accountability or liability for injury.

“I applaud Rep. Gosar’s bill to remedy this wrong. CHD is proud to support a bill that will end this nightmare and restore our Seventh Amendment constitutional rights to be able to sue for inflicted harms.”

Several other organizations are supporting the bill, including the Autism Action Network, Feds for Freedom, the Global Health Project, the Global Wellness Forum, the Health Freedom Defense Fund, the Independent Medical Alliance, Moms Across America, No College Mandates, Stand for Health Freedom and Teachers for Choice.

The bill had 28 cosponsors in the first two days after its introduction.

Gosar introduced a similar version of the bill during the previous congressional session, but the legislation stalled in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Several ongoing lawsuits challenge NCVIA, PREP Act

In March, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld a lower court ruling that school medical staff who gave a COVID-19 vaccine to a minor without obtaining parental consent cannot be held liable under the PREP Act.

The Maine ruling came one week after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to review a lower court’s ruling in a similar lawsuit in Vermont. In that case, a school administered a COVID-19 vaccine to a 6-year-old boy despite his and his parents’ objections.

Last year, the Vermont Supreme Court ruled that the PREP Act shielded school officials from liability.

Attorney Ray Flores is suing U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., alleging that Kennedy is violating the NCVIA by failing to establish a task force dedicated to making childhood vaccines safer, as mandated by federal law. CHD is funding the lawsuit.

Paul Brundage, a COVID-19 vaccine injury victim, is also suing Kennedy, alleging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violated federal law by failing to add the COVID-19 vaccine to the list of vaccines covered under VICP.

Related articles in The Defender

• Massie Proposes to Make COVID Vaccine Makers Liable for Injuries, Opening Door for Thousands of Lawsuits
• Lawsuit Targets HHS for Failing to Set Up Task Force on Childhood Vaccine Safety
• Lawsuit Against HHS, RFK Jr. Seeks to Add COVID Vaccines to Injury Compensation Program
• Nearly 10,000 Claims Pending as COVID Vaccine Injury Compensation Program Faces Possible Budget Cut
• 30 Lawmakers Sponsor Bill to End Liability Protection for Vaccine Makers