WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court says a federal law bars
lawsuits against drug makers for the serious side effects from childhood
vaccines.

By a 6-2 vote Tuesday, the court ruled against the parents
of a child who sued the drug maker Wyeth in Pennsylvania state court for the health
problems they say their daughter, now 19, suffered from a vaccine she received
in infancy.

Justice Antonin Scalia, writing for the court, said Congress
set up a special vaccine court to handle such claims as a way to provide
compensation to injured children without driving drug manufacturers from the
vaccine market.

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor dissented.