Donald Rumsfeld Connect-the-Dots

USA Today reported on 12/14/05 that “[f]lu vaccine makers would be shielded from lawsuits under sweeping language Senate Republicans hope to slip into a bill before Congress adjourns for the year, a move that has sparked outrage from Democrats and consumer advocates.”

Here’s more:

Details of the vaccine liability plan were still being worked on Wednesday. One version would allow patients harmed by flu vaccines to sue drug companies and distributors for damages only if they can prove willful misconduct.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and watchdog groups such as Public Citizen say that standard is too high and would effectively bar compensation to victims. They say the measure is so broad that it could apply to virtually any drug used to treat "epidemics," which could include such conditions as diabetes.

They contend that the federal government already has the power to protect drug companies and that patients harmed by flu vaccines should be treated the same as those injured by vaccines for measles, chicken pox and other childhood diseases. A federal "no-fault" program that went into effect in 1988 offers compensation for patients injured by childhood vaccines and is funded by a tax on every dose of the covered vaccines that are purchased.

Jillian Aldebron, a spokeswoman for Public Citizen, said that if the vaccine liability proposal had been law in 1976, 4,000 people who became ill after taking the swine flu vaccine would have had no recourse to seek compensation. Neither would military personnel and first responders who suffered heart attacks and other problems after taking smallpox vaccine in 2003, she said.

How is Donald Rumsfeld connected to any of this? Well, as it turns out, this provision could apply to any flu vaccine, depending upon the final language. Including Tamiflu, the influenza vaccine that is being dispensed right now all around the US to protect against seasonal flu. Who holds the patent on Tamiflu, you might wonder? That would be Gilead Sciences, Inc., whose Chairman from 1997 until 2001 was none other than current Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. According to today's Roll Call (sub. req.), Rumsfeld remains a large shareholder of Gilead Sciences stock.

Elsewhere the USA Today article notes that “[a] vote could come as early as Friday, said Amy Call, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., the plan's chief supporter. Frist hopes to insert the provision into a must-pass defense bill.” Clever! We must pass this defense bill, that (not-so-) coincidentally provides a liability shield to, among others, a company whose board was formerly chaired (and whose stock is still held in large quantity) by our current Secretary of Defense.

Sen. Frist seems to have a way with conflicts of interest involving stock holdings, doesn’t he?