Drug Safety
What are the legal challenges and prevalence of adverse reactions from COVID-19 vaccines based on clinical trial data?
Brianne Dressen explains that vaccine injury cases face unique legal obstacles due to the PREP Act, which provides robust protections for vaccination programs. Unlike typical injury cases that would be "open and shut," vaccine-related lawsuits encounter impenetrable legal barriers because vaccines are held to different standards in the United States. Regarding prevalence, Dressen cites two key studies showing significant adverse event rates. Freeman and Doshi's analysis of clinical trial data found serious adverse events occur at a rate of 1 in 800 participants. Additionally, the German government has officially recognized "post vaccine syndrome" as a severe multi-system condition occurring after COVID vaccination, with rates similar to long COVID at 2 in 5,000 cases. These findings highlight the gap between reported adverse events and actual clinical trial data, raising questions about transparency in vaccine safety reporting.
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VICE News
33:42 - 35:59
What motivated Brianne Dressen, a Utah mother and preschool teacher, to participate in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial?
Brianne Dressen was motivated to participate in the vaccine trial by multiple converging factors. She had healthcare professionals in her family who expressed serious concerns about COVID-19's initial variant, reporting alarming cases of clotting disorders and heart attacks in young people at hospitals. This personal testimony from trusted medical sources created genuine fear about the pandemic's severity. Additionally, the media environment amplified these concerns with apocalyptic messaging about potential societal collapse. As someone who was fully vaccinated along with her children, and married to a PhD chemist, Dressen viewed participation as following science and fulfilling civic duty. She was already predisposed to get vaccinated and saw the trial as an opportunity to help society emerge from the pandemic with minimal damage. Her decision was further reinforced when friends successfully participated in Moderna trials, making her receptive when AstraZeneca's clinic contacted her directly for screening.
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VICE News
00:14 - 04:38
What legal protections do pharmaceutical companies have against lawsuits from COVID vaccine injuries, and what recourse do injured individuals have?
Pharmaceutical companies are protected from COVID vaccine injury lawsuits through the PREP Act, which provides blanket immunity under Emergency Use Authorization (EUA). This protection extends beyond COVID vaccines to other treatments like remdesivir and monkeypox vaccines, leaving injured individuals with no legal recourse against manufacturers. Currently, over 100 legal challenges to the PREP Act have failed, making Brianne Dressen's AstraZeneca case potentially the first to succeed in challenging this protection. Injured individuals are essentially on their own, with no established support programs or dedicated research into addressing vaccine-related harms. The situation highlights a significant gap in accountability, where those harmed by vaccines have limited options and must often rely on informal networks of other injured individuals to find information and support, creating an urgent need for legal and policy reforms.
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VICE News
31:40 - 33:17
What was the government and institutional response when COVID vaccine trial participants reported severe adverse effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine?
When Brianne Dressen and another participant reported identical severe neurological injuries from the AstraZeneca vaccine trial, the NIH responded within 24 hours to their reports. Despite acknowledging these injuries, government messaging continued to promote vaccine safety, telling people to "go get your shot" while claiming they were just working on FDA paperwork. Ten days after the reports, two significant actions occurred: AstraZeneca was pulled from consideration in the United States, and the National Institutes of Health initiated a formal study to investigate neurological complications following COVID vaccines in general. This response highlighted the disconnect between official safety messaging and the serious adverse events being documented by trial participants.
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VICE News
16:28 - 17:15
What happened to Brianne Dressen during the COVID-19 vaccine trials and how is she responding to her experience?
Brianne Dressen, a healthy school teacher and mother of two, volunteered to participate in COVID-19 vaccine trials but experienced severe traumatic side effects that dramatically changed her perspective on vaccines. Her negative experience was so significant that she transformed from being a vaccine proponent to becoming a critic and advocate for vaccine safety. As a result of her ordeal, Dressen is now pursuing legal action by filing a groundbreaking lawsuit against AstraZeneca that could potentially reshape the vaccine industry. She has also become an advocate through React19.org, working to raise awareness about vaccine injuries and pushing for greater transparency in public health decisions and policies.
Watch clip answer (00:48m)VICE News
00:06 - 00:54
What are the potential implications of RFK Jr.'s appointment as Health and Human Services secretary for vaccine safety oversight and transparency?
RFK Jr.'s appointment as Health and Human Services secretary represents a significant shift in federal health policy, particularly regarding vaccine oversight. Given his history as a vaccine skeptic and President Trump's promise to "open up the books" on COVID vaccine controversies, this appointment signals a potential major investigation into vaccine safety protocols and pharmaceutical industry practices. The appointment comes at a time when vaccine injury cases like Brianne Dressen's are gaining attention, highlighting gaps in the current system's ability to address adverse reactions from clinical trials. This could lead to enhanced transparency requirements for pharmaceutical companies and more robust safety monitoring systems. The implications extend beyond individual cases to broader public health policy, potentially reshaping how vaccine trials are conducted and how adverse events are reported and compensated, fundamentally altering the relationship between government oversight and pharmaceutical accountability.
Watch clip answer (00:58m)VICE News
00:01 - 00:59