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There are real and perceived liability risks of adverse events relating to Ebola vaccines. The challenge facing partners in the Ebola response is to allocate, whether explicitly by action or implicitly by nonaction, such liability risks between vaccine manufacturers, supporting governments, beneficiary governments (Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone), individuals who may experience adverse events, and populations in the affected countries and elsewhere who will benefit from widespread vaccination.

This challenge is compounded by the fact that such risks and accompanying legal liabilities are difficult to project in advance, are based upon imperfect information, and are potential precedents for treatment of liability risks in future public health emergencies. Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone have histories of relatively weak judicial systems, which increase the potential legal risks.'Even in the context of stronger judicial …