WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The Department of Defense has defeated a lawsuit that blamed it for the death of a man who took the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Estate of George Watts, Jr. said Watts suffered myocarditis after getting the vaccine and blamed the DoD for its role in facilitating vaccines. But a short, two-page order from D.C. federal judge Carl Nichols said the government is immune to such liability.
Nichols also rejected claims the Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act is unconstitutional.
"Plaintiff misunderstands the source of the immunity asserted by the government," Nichols wrote on Sept. 24.
"While the PREP Act provides immunity from suit under certain circumstances, the government does not invoke that provision here. Rather, the government asserts its general immunity from suit, which, independently of the PREP Act, 'bar[s] suits for money damages against officials in their official capacity absent a specific waiver by the government.'"
And the PREP Act preserves that immunity, though the plaintiff wanted Nichols to sever that portion of it as unconstitutional.
"But even if the Court were to do so, it lacks the power to replace that provision with a specific waiver of sovereign immunity - without which Plaintiff's suit cannot proceed."
According to the plaintiff's complaint, Watts was a 24-year-old who was attending classes at Corning Community College in Corning, New York. The plaintiff alleges that in August of 2021, CCC mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for students who wanted to attend in-person classes.
The plaintiff further alleges that Watts received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioTech COVID-19 vaccine and suffered "numerous adverse health consequences" which worsened after his second dose of the vaccine. The plaintiff claims Watts had no previous medical history to explain his sudden death on Oct. 27, 2021, and that his cause of death was from "COVID-19 vaccine related myocarditis."
The plaintiff alleges that the two doses of the Pfizer vaccine given to Watts were "an unlicensed product under the auspices of the Department of Defense" and its Operation Warp Speed. The plaintiff further alleges the DOD caused accelerated production of the vaccine in a "deliberate and calculated mass-deception campaign" while stating the vaccines were "safe and effective."