==Rand Paul Introduces Federal Bill to Strip Vaccine Manufacturers of Nationwide Liability Immunity

S.3853 targets the 1986 legal framework that rerouted vaccine injury claims into a federal compensation system.== 2/15/26

JON FLEETWOOD.1/2

On Wednesday, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) introduced federal legislation that would dismantle the long-standing liability protections shielding vaccine manufacturers from civil lawsuits in the United States.

CDC data confirm millions of injury reports submitted following vaccination, though an HHS–Harvard Pilgrim analysis concluded the agency’s vaccine tracking system captures fewer than 1% of adverse events.

The bill, S.3853, formally titled “A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to end the liability shield for vaccine manufacturers, and for other purposes,” was introduced on February 11, 2026, and referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP).

The measure is cosponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT).

If enacted, the legislation would amend federal law to remove legal protections that have insulated vaccine manufacturers from product-liability lawsuits since 1986.

The Legal Structure Targeted

The liability shield stems from the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which created the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP).

Under that framework, individuals claiming vaccine-related injury must generally pursue claims through a federal compensation system rather than through traditional civil litigation.

Manufacturers are broadly protected from design-defect claims and most tort actions in state courts.

The legal architecture was justified at the time as necessary to prevent vaccine market collapse amid rising lawsuits.

S.3853 would directly amend the Public Health Service Act to eliminate those protections.

Although the full statutory text has not yet been published, the bill’s title makes clear that its purpose is not procedural reform but termination of the federal liability shield itself.

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/rand-paul-introduces-federal-bill

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What Would Change

If the shield were removed:Vaccine manufacturers could face direct product-liability lawsuits in state and federal courts.

Design-defect claims previously barred under federal law could potentially proceed.

The financial and insurance landscape for vaccine production would shift immediately.

The federal compensation program’s exclusivity could be undermined.

In practical terms,vaccine manufacturers would operate under the same tort frameworkas other pharmaceutical companies whose products are not covered by statutory immunity.

Political & Institutional Implications

The liability protections have been defended for decades by establishment public health officials and pro-vaccine industry groups as essential to maintaining vaccine supply stability.

Critics argue the shield removes market accountabilityand eliminates standard legal recourse available for other medical products.

The introduction ofS.3853 marks a direct legislative challengeto that structure at the federal level.

Historically, measures altering vaccine liability protections have facedresistance from Big Pharma and politicians, many of whom are funded by the medical industry.

The proposal places the issue squarely on the Senate agenda and signals thatthe liability question is no longer confined to academic or activist debate.

It is now a live legislative matter on the national level.

Whether S.3853 advances or stalls in committee will determine whether Congress is willing to reopen one of the most entrenched public health legal frameworks in modern U.S. law.

https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/rand-paul-introduces-federal-bill

This has to go through, Paul and Lee needs support, millions of Americans would sign a petition or some kind of support!

February 16, 2026.1/2

“You Had Me at Hello”: Newsom and AOC Go to Europe to Pitch High Tax, High Regulation Policies

Below is my column in The Hill on the recent appearance of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) in Munich.They found the perfect audience for pledging to reverse many current policies and re-embrace a high-taxation, high-regulation platform. The Europeans were giddy with excitement as they doubled down on policies that have stagnated many of their economies.

Here is the column:

This week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) joined the many Californians now seeking their fortune elsewhere. The difference is that Newsom is planning to come back to California, even as billionaires, investors, and companies flee his state for greener pastures.

Newsom and Democrats such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) were selling a brave new world that looked a lot like the broken old world. It was an ironic moment. They were addressing countries at the Munich Security Conference that had previously destroyed their economies through socialist and far-left policies.

The rush of liberal Democratic officeholders to Europe was telling. A new poll shows that a record 58 percent of voters believe their party is “too liberal.” But Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez found a welcoming audience in Europe.

The global elite gushed over Ocasio-Cortez and sat enraptured as she rattled off socialist platitudes. That included New York Times correspondent Katrin Bennhold, who thrilled the audience by treating it as a given that Ocasio-Cortez will run for president.

Both Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez spoke of returning the U.S. to the good graces of the global elite. Newsom assured the Europeans that Trump’s reign is temporary, and that the U.S. will soon enough dismantle the “wrecking ball” that the administration has taken to the EU.

Newsom offered his leadership and his state as the model, proclaiming that “California is a stable and reliable partner” for Europe. The model includes high taxes, massive spending programs and greater bureaucratic regulations — precisely the policies that have driven the European economy into its current stagnation. In other words, Democrats were in Europe to offer precisely what Newsom outwardly condemned: “doubling down on stupid.”

When not fumbling with security questions about issues such as Taiwan, Ocasio-Cortez was demanding that wealth taxes be implemented in the U.S. “expeditiously.” Such a tax on billionaires’ wealth, including unrealized gains, is currently being pushed in California. The predictable result is that billionaires and other wealthy citizens are rushing to leave the state and taking their investments and companies with them.

Ocasio-Cortez had the audience at hello.

Rather than having Vice President J.D. Vance shaming them for their attacks on free speech,the Europeans positively gushed over Democratic leaders pushing far-left agendas. It did not matter that such policies devastated European economies in the 20th century.

https://jonathanturley.org/2026/02/16/you-had-me-a-hello-newsom-and-aoc-go-to-europe-to-pitch-high-tax-high-regulation-policies/

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In my book “Rage and the Republic,”I discuss the rise of support for socialism in both the U.S. and Europe. Many of those supporting it are young voters with no memory of the collapse of socialist economies in the 20th Century. In 1977, Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan pursued many of the same socialist policies, leading to what was called the “winter of discontent” as inflation hit 25 percent. With the collapse of the British pound, the United Kingdom had to take the demoralizing step of securing a loan from the International Monetary Fund, as if it were a developing country.

In France, François Mitterrand was also elected to pursue his “rupture with capitalism.”The French economy collapsed; Mitterrand quickly had to reverse himself and restore capitalist policies.

That history is rarely discussed or taught today. The “warmth of collectivism,” as New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani put it, is back in vogue. It does not matter that, in Argentina, President Javier Milei is achieving one of the most impressive economic turnarounds in history — dramatically curtailing runaway inflation, government deficits and poverty — by reinstating free-market policies and reducing government spending.

What is chilling about Europe is that the EU has strangled growth with its increasingly centralized controls and massive bureaucracy. My book describes the instability of the EU and its global governance model. Europe is facing populist movements and, like many Democrats, the response has been calls for further consolidation of power. This included the creation of a new, uniform European corporate law, known as the “28th Regime.”

With an economy crushed by a massive EU bureaucracy and regulations, the solution of many is all too familiar: borrow more money. French President Emmanuel Macron and others want to issue “Euro bonds” to spend their way into an economic recovery — another policy ideal shared with many on the American left.

This week was only the latest effort of the American left to strengthen an alliance with the EU. Previously, American leaders such as Hillary Clinton pushed the EU to censor Americans online after free speech protections were restored by companies like Twitter. Likewise, the American left is enamored with the EU’s global bureaucracy and regulations.

Newsom and Ocasio-Cortez certainly found their element in Munich, and the EU certainly found the “reliable partners” it has longed for in creating “a new World Order with European Values.”

https://jonathanturley.org/2026/02/16/you-had-me-a-hello-newsom-and-aoc-go-to-europe-to-pitch-high-tax-high-regulation-policies/