Legal Shield for Vaccine Makers Is Inserted Into Military Bill

Companies making vaccines to protect against biological agents or pandemic viruses would be shielded from lawsuits, even if they are negligent or reckless, under a provision inserted into a military spending bill by Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader.

Reviving the nation's flagging vaccine industry is a long-held goal of Mr. Frist, a heart-lung transplant surgeon who has made health care legislation the centerpiece of his Senate career. In a meeting with reporters Saturday night, Mr. Frist described the provision, which was added to the bill produced by a House-Senate conference committee, as one that offered drug makers "targeted liability protection."

Aides to Mr. Frist said the measure was more restrictive than the existing law offering immunity to companies that produced smallpox vaccine; in the case of smallpox, the vaccine makers could not be sued for any reason. The language in the pending military bill, by contrast, permits suits for "willful misconduct," though it specifies that willful misconduct does not include negligence or recklessness.

But critics, like Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the language was more far-reaching than Mr. Frist had described.

"The Republican leadership in Congress cut a back room deal to give a massive Christmas bonus to the drug companies," Mr. Kennedy said in a statement.''

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