FDA's green light to the 2024-2025 COVID-19 Shots means the Emergency is not going away.
It is unlikely that the COVID-19 Emergency will expire in four months as announced.
On Thursday, the FDA issued approvals and authorizations for Pfizer and Moderna 2024-2025 mRNA vaccines on the same day. But, this is not another 'bait and switch' to approve a non-existent vaccine since no licensed COVID-19 vaccines have ever been available for children.
Although the White House announced the end of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency on May 11, 2023, PREP Act protections were extended through 2024. The fact that COVID-19 vaccines are still being approved and authorized when the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency is set to expire in four months should give pause. The FDA's announcement concerning these late-model vaccines all but guarantees that PREP Act liability protection will continue well into 2025 and beyond.
There has been much speculation on whether COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers will be exposed to liability in civil court once PREP Act liability protections expire or whether these countermeasures will be removed from CICP into VICP. I don't see either scenario happening for a number of reasons.
Both the Pfizer contract and the Moderna contract permit distribution in the United States only if these vaccines are covered by the PREP Act.
VICP allows for a fraud exception that would allow lawsuits in federal or state civil court whereas PREP requires proof of willful misconduct, which is infinitely more difficult to plead and prove.
A Covid-19 Injury Compensation Trust fund in VICP would require magnitudes more than the current 75-cent excise tax on all VICP vaccines
Considering there are over 1.6M COVID-19 adverse vaccine events reported to VAERS, the vaccine court would be flooded with claims
Permitting attorney fees for COVID-19 vaccine injuries would quickly bankrupt the system.
With a shelf life of 12 to 18 months, it appears highly unlikely that the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency will end anytime before 2026.
In your last sentence, is it possible you meant "unlikely"?