Hepatitis B vaccine: plaintiffs lose in court

A “judicial scandal”, estimates Me Gisèle Mor, lawyer of the civil party in the case of the vaccine against hepatitis B. The justice rendered a dismissal at the end of a soap opera started 17 years ago, in following several complaints from victims denouncing the side effects of this vaccination.

It thus follows the requisitions of the public prosecutor who had concluded that there was no “certain causality” between the vaccine and the appearance of pathologies, and which had therefore ruled out “professional misconduct or negligence”.

“The decision refers to the position of the health administration. However, the various judges did not carry out the checks. From the start, there was a desire not to succeed, ”said the lawyer, for whom the administration“ did not fulfill its duty of surveillance ”.

Sixty victims and nine deaths recorded

In 1994, a major vaccination campaign was launched, aiming to immunize 20 million people to fight against the hepatitis B epidemic. A few years later, cases of neurological diseases, in particular multiple sclerosis, had appeared. declared. In 1998, an investigation was opened, leading to the census of sixty victims, including nine deaths.

Three officials from Sanofi and GSK laboratories, which marketed the product, were then indicted for aggravated deception. The laboratories, as well as a doctor, had also been placed under the status of assisted witness for manslaughter.

Doubts but no overwhelming evidence

During the investigation, several experts spoke out. Initially, a report had questioned the attitude of the authorities on their attempt to conceal the possible side effects behind the advantages of the vaccine.

In 2006, a college of professors had estimated that the vaccination campaign was “not unjustified”, had that “no credible deleterious effect of vaccination was identified in the many serious publications”. They had, however, expressed doubts about the need to vaccinate on a large scale, including children and adolescents not exposed to the virus, rather than targeting populations at risk.

The case should not end there. The civil party’s lawyers have expressed their probable intention to bring it before a court of appeal.