Jonas Salk Should've Been A Lawyer

Pediatrician and vaccine expert Dr. Paul Offit explains how unwarranted lawsuits stop investment in vaccine research and manufacturing in today's WSJ. [Links WSJ Subscriber | Temporary] His bottom line:

. . . if companies are left exposed to the vagaries of juries (as is likely with the thimerosal litigation), vaccine makers won't make a pandemic-influenza vaccine. It's that simple. And young Americans will be able to experience firsthand just what an influenza pandemic looks like -- something that all of the lawsuits in the world won't be able to stop.

Here is a less concise (but permalink-able) version of Dr. Offit's argument, from Pharmaceutical News.