Biden Vaccine Donations Test Drugmakers’ Liability Shield Abroad

Pfizer Inc. and other Covid-19 vaccine makers may face new liability risks for adverse effects after the Biden administration donated 25 million doses abroad, where vaccine legal protections generally aren’t as strong as in the U.S., health law experts say.

The liability shields granted under a 2005 U.S. public readiness law safeguard drugmakers and other entities from stateside lawsuits over alleged Covid-19 vaccine complications unless there’s willful misconduct. Those protections are more solid than what’s afforded in other countries—heightening the risk that companies will have to defend lawsuits in the regions that are getting their products.

“If there is a ...