Vaccines industry threat of US federal test case

A hearing in the US Court of Federal Claims in Washington DC would decide the future of the vaccines industry in the USA, if about 4,800 families with an autistic child succeed in obtaining damages for the use of thimerosal in child immunization treatments. The case deals with claims of side effects to the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR). Medical commentators who discount the claims of a link between the vaccine preservative, which contains mercury, and autism fear that the vaccine sector could collapse under the weight of litigation costs and the threat of future legal action.

Susan Fisher-Hoch, a professor at the University of Texas School of Public Health, told ABC News that "awarding a claim would fly in the face of reason and science." She added that "the effect on vaccine acceptance would be a disaster." One consequence could be a reduction in the number of firms willing to remain in the vaccines market: since the early 1980s the number of firms producing pertussis vaccine dropped from 18 to four, following a compensation pay-out in 1986, according to the Boston Globe.

A 2004 review by the Institute of Medicine concluded that there was no link between the removal of thimerosal from vaccines in 1999 and the number of diagnosed autism cases. Part of the problem, ABC News reports, is that scientists do not have an alternative explanation for the significant rise in diagnosed autism cases in children, but improvements in identifying the condition could be a factor.