Pandemic vaccine liability protection should include compensation for consumers

A number of health care groups have joined trial lawyers in opposing the version of liability protection that Republican lawmakers are crafting for drug manufacturers as part of pandemic flu preparations.

The protections could be attached to a spending bill before &to=http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/354/16351_freedom.html' target=_blank>Congress goes home for the year.

Trial lawyers say the protections are so sweeping that even grossly negligent companies would be immune from lawsuits. Among the groups that have joined their camp are the American Nurses Association, the National Association of County & City Health Officials, the Association of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, and Trust for America's Health, a research organization.