Chris Preston wrote: ↑Fri Oct 22, 2021 11:37 am
Well if you have been duped by the anti-vaxxers into believing their nonsense, it shows a lack of research on your part.
Using labels like 'anti-vaxxer' is really not helpful to good debate. It puts people in 'teams' and shuts down proper discussion. Please try and avoid it. You should also generally try and make your points without an insulting flourish.
Vaccine manufacturers are not protected from liability in the UK. If there is a defect in the vaccine, you can sue under consumer law. If the vaccine causes a known problem, you don't even need to sue, you will get an ex gratia vaccine damage payment.
This is not the case for vaccines pushed out for emergency use in the UK. In particular, it is not the case for some of the Covid vaccines we've been discussing.
https://fullfact.org/health/unlicensed- ... liability/
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-astr ... SKCN24V2EN
The above dates from last year, so here's the current status on Astrazeneca's vaccine, as an example. It is still operating on a temporary approval
https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... strazeneca
The following is commentary from Peter Todd, a consultant with the British law firm Scott Moncrieff, speaking in April this year.
Taken from:
https://fortune.com/2021/04/07/covid-va ... liability/
COVID is massively more dangerous than the pandemic in 2009 was, but there was the same need for a vaccine, urgently…and indemnity has been given to all the manufacturers," says Todd.
In the U.K., a manufacturer's immunity is theoretically whipped away if their vaccine is shown to be "defective," meaning it isn't as safe as people should reasonably expect. But, Todd says, it "would be difficult to prove a reasonable expectation of consumer safety" when most people know COVID-19 vaccines have been rushed out before their large-scale, long-term testing can be completed, to urgently fight an extremely dangerous disease.
That leaves the statutory scheme, which pays out a fixed sum of £120,000 to those suffering severe disablement—not a lot of money in such circumstances, and legal costs are also not reimbursed.