COVID Vaccine Liability -- People Should Be Held Responsible

 

So now, in a world full of lawsuits, let's talk about "COVID-19 Vaccine Liability."

Back in the 1970s and 1980s, the public began to focus on the injuries caused by vaccines. That led to an increase in vaccine-related litigation. The target of the lawsuits was vaccine makers. Because of fears that increased liability would drive vaccine manufacturers out of business, Congress intervened in 1986 with the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA). 

The NCVIA Act established a court program for vaccine injury claims that caps damages while allowing an injured party to be compensated without proving that the maker committed any wrongdoing. Because the best vaccines may harm some individuals, the act limited liability for manufacturers while ensuring that injured persons receive compensation. The Vaccine Injury Compensation Trust Fund provides funding for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program to compensate vaccine-related injury or death petitions for covered vaccines administered on or after October 1, 1988.

So, with that, we can all see that "vaccine manufacturers" are protected by Federal law. While that is plain to see, with the advent of the COVID Vaccine, there is a bigger question today: 

Are the organizations ordering, mandating, those making vaccines mandatory liable against any sort of vaccine-related injuries or deaths resulting from their forcing people to be vaccinated?

So, how about the people who order you to get a vaccine? The list grows longer every day. 

Schools, including universities, are mandating that students attending classes be vaccinated. In California alone, it is estimated that over a million students and staff members in the University of California system are being forced to get a vaccination and providing proof of such a vaccination before being allowed on campus or attending classes.

Someone should advise those mandating such a policy that making such a policy comes with responsibility.  Yes, financial obligation. Since schools are not protected in the same way that vaccine manufacturers are protected under the law, schools should be held legally and financially responsible for any and all vaccine-related injuries or deaths. 

Are insurance carriers covering universities, such as the University of California, okay with the schools opening themselves up to numerous lawsuits in the future due to their mandating COVID vaccines? Are insurance companies, those who insurer schools with such draconian mandates, increasing the cost of covering them? If not, then shouldn't insurance companies increase the liability insurance of schools making such policies? 

Suppose an insurance carrier finds out that a business has a policy of knowingly hiring arsonists. Should that insurance carrier have the right to raise the company's fire insurance premiums or drop them altogether? The same applies to liability insurance. Suppose those insuring schools learn of policies that put their students in potential danger of vaccine-related injuries or deaths through mandate and coercion policies. Shouldn't insurance carriers have the right to raise the liability insurance premiums of those schools or drop them altogether?  

And really, it shouldn't stop with schools. Insurance providers should be looking at increasing liability insurance premiums of employers forcing employees to either be vaccinated, especially those threatening their employees with losing their jobs if they refuse to get vaccinated. 

The reason is simple, actions have consequences, and entities should also be held financially responsible for their actions. 

Tripping, slipping, and falls are among the most common causes of all workers' compensation claims. Because of wet or oily surfaces, spills, loose rugs, icy walkways, poor lighting, clutter, uncovered cables, and uneven walking surfaces, tripping, slips, and falls account for more than one-third of all personal injuries in the workplace. Companies spend a lot of money to prevent such things from happening. Among the many things done to cut down on such workplace-related injuries, companies promote good housekeeping practices be followed by employees. Companies also require that their employees wear proper footwear. And, of course, companies work hard to reduce how much exposure their employees have to hazardous surfaces. While there are other on-the-job hazards, companies work hard to reduce workplace injuries of all sorts.  

As I said, to cut down on workplace-related injuries, companies spend a lot of money trying to reduce their employees' exposure to hazards. Many companies do so to keep their workers' compensation claims down. The reason is simple. Such claims impede production and cost companies dearly.

Now there are employers requiring employees to be vaccinated with the  COVID vaccines. Please understand that COVID-19 vaccines are not without side effects. Some are minor, but some are so severe that those taking the vaccines have died. It's a fact, more people have been killed due to taking the COVID-19 vaccine than any other vaccine in our history. The number is staggering as more than three thousand vaccinated Americans have died due to taking the vaccine. That has created fear and understandable apprehension about taking any COVID vaccine. 

That brings us to the companies' role and legal responsibility, which require taking the vaccine as a condition of employment. Since some companies require that their employees be vaccinated as a condition of their job, Americans should understand that employers doing so put themselves in the position of assuming responsibility for any adverse reactions to the COVID Vaccine incurred by their employees. 

Suppose an employer requires that their employees need to be vaccinated with the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of employment. In that case, any adverse reaction to the vaccine will be considered "work-related." Because adverse reactions are recordable, employers who force their employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine are legally responsible for those work-related injuries or deaths. 

So now, we know that we can't hold companies like Pfizer and Moderna financially responsible for severe side effects or death after getting a COVID vaccine. But the federal government does not grant that same immunity from liability to companies and schools mandating that you receive that vaccine, especially if it was ordered as a condition of employment. 

The point is, while vaccine makers are exempt from liability, employers and schools are not. Subsequently, they can be sued by those experiencing severe side effects. That's especially true if those side effects resulted from being forced to take the COVID vaccine or lose your job. 

Since some employers are starting to require COVID-19 vaccines, we should all understand that, by law, our getting any vaccine is strictly voluntary in the United States. Such practices as requiring COVID-19 vaccines are nothing less than forcing people to take a potentially dangerous vaccine. That should not go unaddressed. 

Because of that, COVID vaccine liability should be something that insurance carriers and attorneys look into today. Poor policies have repercussions, and people must be held legally responsible for harming others.

Tom Correa