united-states defamation freedom-of-speech first-amendment vaccination
Legal response to vaccination misinformation?
<p>With Dominion's defamation suit against Lindell et al, I got to thinking that companies making vaccines should have similar standing to sue prominent disseminators of vaccine misinformation.  They can demonstrate that vaccine hesitancy is directly harming their bottom line.</p>
<p>Would they (Pfizer, Moderna, J&amp;J) have standing in the US to pursue such a suit?  If so, why don't they?  Many of the misinformation claims are easily proven false.</p>

<p>In the US the first amendment protections given to free expression make defamation claims significantly harder to pursue than in some other countries. o-called 'product defamation&quot; claims are generally harder yet.</p>
<p>In the case of Dominion Voting Systems some of those sued seem to have made fairly specific allegations, which, if true, would involve probably criminal wrong doing. And please note that none of those suits have yet had a trial on the merits, to the best of my knowledge. We don't know if the statements complained of will be held to be defamatory or protected.</p>
<p>Claims that a vaccine is not as safe as it should be, or the regulators were too quick to approve it, are harder to frame as defamatory of the drug companies. Since the government contracted in advance for enough vaccine to give a dose to everyone in the US (as I understand it) damages would be hard to prove.</p>
<p>And there would be a risk of a PR backlash.</p>
<p>It is not as if any of these companies has tried to file a suit and had it dismissed. They have not chosen to file, for which there could be many reasons.</p>
