Episode Details

This summer, Merck & Co. settled more than 200 lawsuits alleging that the company's HPV vaccine, Gardasil, caused cases of autoimmune conditions and fertility issues in young women. But that $50 million settlement is not an admission of fault on the part of the company or the vaccine. In this episode: Vaccine law expert Dorit Reiss details the lawsuits, including why evidence isn't stacking up for plaintiffs and how headlines about the dollar amount can misconstrue the facts of the case.

Dorit Reiss, PhD, is an expert on vaccine policy and a professor of law at UC San Francisco.

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

• Merck to Settle Bulk of Gardasil Suits for About $50 Million—Bloomberg

• Kennedy played key role in Gardasil vaccine case against Merck—Reuters

• What VAERS Is (And Isn't)—Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

• The HPV Vaccine, 20 Years Later—Public Health On Call (August 2026)

• Vaccines 101: The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program—Public Health On Call (February 2025)

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