What is this “PREP Act” that has entered our vocabulary this past week?

Several terms that were foreign to most just a couple of months ago are now becoming mainstream.

Social Distancing. Congregate Settings. Sustained Community Transmission. Flatten the Curve. Prep Act.

And even proper personal hygiene for some.

I have been discussing the need for many to read and understand the complexities and pitfalls of this federal law for a few years. The PREP Act or “Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act” was the product of President Bush 43 and his Health and Human Services (HHS) Agency.

The PREP Act was passed in December of 2005. Most of the emphasis for this act was born upon the federal government’s response to the Anthrax scare immediately after 9/11.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREP Act) added new legal authorities to the Public Health Service (PHS) Act to provide liability immunity related to the manufacture, testing, development, distribution, administration and use of medical countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents of terrorism, epidemics, and pandemics.

It also added authority to establish a program to compensate eligible individuals who suffer injuries from administration or use of products covered by the PREP Act’s immunity provisions. [2]

The first reading of this legislation would lend the reader to think that the act was reasonable.

Think again. Promoting the Act as being comparable to the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (NVICP), it is compensating persons for injuries and at the same time, sneaking freedom and liberty restrictions into our lives.

The Act would continue to be amended by legislation and by Executive Orders by Bush 43 and Obama.

The Act did create a CounterMeasures Compensation Fund and mechanism to award damages to those who suffered injury or death by any of the declared countermeasures by the Secretary of HHS.

What is not mentioned in this summary page provided by HHS are the scary and very concerning legal powers granted to the Secretary of HHS and further to the local and state health departments.

Hidden in the Act is subsection (7) under declarations by the Secretary of HHS.

(7) JUDICIAL REVIEW. – No court of the United States, or of any State, shall have subject matter jurisdiction to review, whether by mandamus or otherwise, any action by the Secretary under this subsection. [3]

Now, how do we interpret this? In the Declarations subsection, whereas the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has sole power to decide which counter measure or measures used to combat an epidemic or pandemic, the manufacturer of the said countermeasure will receive immunity from liability resulting in injury or death.

And there is NO Court system in the land that can override this provision.

There have been seven (7) declarations of Countermeasures covered by the PREP Act. Countermeasures can include vaccines, drugs, or medical devices to be used against chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) agents of terrorism, epidemics, and pandemics.

The covered Countermeasures include anthrax, Ebola, Zika, and now, the Secretary of HHS has begun the process of adding Corona virus vaccines as a covered measure.

This process started in early February 2020. With a period of soliciting public comment, and waiting for the development of a vaccine, the declaration, if approved, will be ready to add the vaccine sometime in early 2021 or later.

Isolation and Quarantine Provisions

The Act clarifies that the Secretary of HHS has the authority and her designees to declare a national or regional public health emergency. With declaration comes the authority to quarantine person(s) who are deemed infected or suspected of being affected.

from Humans Are Free