STORY AT-A-GLANCE
- The documentary, “1986: The Act,” is a historical description of how the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 came into being. The Act shields manufacturers from liability and requires those injured by vaccines to sue the U.S. government for compensation instead
- The film, produced by Dr. Andrew Wakefield, is included in the NVIC’s international public conference on vaccination, which will be held online October 16 through 18, 2020
- “1986: The Act” illustrates the dangers of removing a product — vaccines — from the constraints of the free market, as it removes incentives for safety
- The vaccine industry has created a perfect business model for profitability. They need not conduct proper safety studies, which are both costly and time consuming, and have no liability for harms done by their products
- In the case of the dangerous whole-cell pertussis vaccine — the injuries from which played a role in getting liability shielding for the entire industry from the government in 1986 — a safer pertussis vaccine had been patented in 1937, yet was not implemented because it would cost pennies more per dose to manufacture
