Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/10pdf/09-152.pdf
Page Number: 5

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BRUESEWITZ v. WYETH LLC 

Opinion of the Court 

cines became, one might say, victims of their own success.
They  had  been  so  effective  in  preventing  infectious  dis-
eases  that  the  public  became  much  less  alarmed  at  the 
threat  of  those  diseases,4  and  much  more  concerned  with 
the risk of injury from the vaccines themselves.5 

Much  of  the  concern  centered  around  vaccines  against 
diphtheria,  tetanus,  and  pertussis  (DTP),  which  were 
blamed  for  children’s  disabilities  and  developmental  de-
lays.  This led to a massive increase in vaccine-related tort 
litigation.  Whereas  between  1978  and  1981  only  nine 
product-liability suits were filed against DTP manufactur-
ers, by the mid-1980’s the suits numbered more than 200
each  year.6    This  destabilized  the  DTP  vaccine  market, 
causing two of the three domestic manufacturers to with-
draw; and the remaining manufacturer, Lederle Laborato-
ries, estimated that its potential tort liability exceeded its
annual sales by a factor of 200.7  Vaccine shortages arose
when Lederle had production problems in 1984.8 

Despite  the  large  number  of  suits,  there  were  many
complaints  that  obtaining  compensation  for  legitimate
vaccine-inflicted  injuries  was  too  costly  and  difficult.9  A 

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4 See  Mortimer,  Immunization  Against  Infectious  Disease,  200  Sci-

ence 902, 906 (1978). 

5 See  National  Vaccine  Advisory  Committee,  A  Comprehensive  Re-
view  of  Federal  Vaccine  Safety  Programs  and  Public  Health  Activities
2–3  (Dec.  2008)  (hereinafter  NVAC),  http://www.hhs.gov/nvpo/nvac/
documents/vaccine-safety-review.pdf  (as  visited  Feb.  18,  2011,  and 
available in Clerk of Court’s case file). 

6 See Sing & Willian, Supplying Vaccines: An Overview of the Market
and Regulatory Context, in Supplying Vaccines: An Economic Analysis
of Critical Issues 45, 51–52 (M. Pauly, C. Robinson, S. Sepe, M. Sing, &
M. William eds. 1996). 

7 See id., at 52. 
8 See  Centers  for  Disease  Control,  Diptheria-Tetanus-Pertussis  Vac-
cine  Shortage,  33  Morbidity  and  Mortality  Weekly  Report  695–696
(Dec. 14, 1984). 

9 See Apolinsky & Van Detta, Rethinking Liability for Vaccine Injury, 
19  Cornell J.  L. & Pub. Pol’y 537,  550–551 (2010); T.  Burke, Lawyers,