Vaccines Immunize People; Legislation Immunizes Vaccine Manufacturers. Legislation in the United States Regulating Liability for the Manufacture, Distribution and Administration of Vaccines

Authors

Thomas Allan Heller
University of Maribor, Faculty of Law

Synopsis

Infectious diseases have caused widespread misery, and have wreaked havoc physically, mentally, economically, politically, and socially. Fortunately, in more recent years, scientists have developed vaccines. Vaccines are generally very safe, but cause side effects in a small percentage of cases. The United States Congress has passed two major pieces of legislation that provide sweeping tort immunity to vaccine manufacturers and others. In 1986 Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA) and in 2005 it passed the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP ACT). Both Acts were passed to encourage manufacturers to develop vaccines, particularly in times of public emergencies, in exchange for expansive liability protection. Both Acts established no-fault type compensation schemes to compensate those suffering injury or death from vaccines without having to resort to typical litigation. The author discusses both Acts in detail, in the context of the current Covid-19 crisis. The author discusses both Acts in detail, in the context of the current Covid-19 crisis.

Author Biography

Thomas Allan Heller, University of Maribor, Faculty of Law

Thomas Allan Heller is an American legal expert who earned his legal education at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Michigan, 1976) and obtained his J.D. from Wayne Law School in Detroit (Michigan, 1979). He successfully passed the Michigan State Bar Exam in 1981 and the Washington State Bar Exam in 1984. His professional career includes work both in the judiciary and in private legal practice. In 2017, he moved with his family to Maribor, where he established strong and successful ties with the Faculty of Law at the University of Maribor (PF UM). Through his collaboration with the faculty, Thomas Allan Heller made a significant contribution to the dissemination of knowledge about the American legal system in Slovenia. His involvement particularly enriched the teaching process at PF UM, offering students valuable insights into comparative and U.S. law. Thomas Allan Heller is also a key initiator of the now flourishing partnership between Wayne State University and PF UM. His academic work includes a range of scholarly articles published in respected Slovenian journals such as Lexonomica, Medicine, Law & Society, and Pravnik, further solidifying his role in fostering legal scholarship and international academic cooperation.

Maribor, Slovenia. E-mail: heller6651@msn.com

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Volume

Collected Papers of Thomas A. Heller

Pages

221-260

Published

July 14, 2025

Categories

Copyright (c) 2025 University of Maribor, University Press

License

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Heller, T. A. (2025). Vaccines Immunize People; Legislation Immunizes Vaccine Manufacturers. Legislation in the United States Regulating Liability for the Manufacture, Distribution and Administration of Vaccines. In S. Kraljić (Ed.), Collected Papers of Thomas A. Heller (pp. 221-260). University of Maribor Press. https://press.um.si/index.php/ump/catalog/book/977/chapter/739