Americans who suffer adverse reactions to coronavirus vaccines that the U.S. is racing to develop will have a hard time getting compensated for injuries from the drugs. After 9/11, Congress created the countermeasures program to speed compensation to people injured from drugs, vaccines, and devices developed in response to pandemics and national security events. the countermeasures program puts a higher financial burden on people applying for compensation, and doesn’t allow for expert witnesses, hearings or appeals. They amount to a “get out of jail free card” for drugmakers, said Hunter Shkolnik, of Napoli Shkolnik, who has represented many clients in pharmaceutical product liability cases and says the government only pays lost earnings and medical costs. Download