The language would allow lawsuits against vaccine makers only if they engaged in "willful misconduct."

Judgments like these have forced up insurance costs to vaccine makers, fueling a dramatic price rise.

Such mammoth projections help explain why some vaccine makers seem to be jockeying to lead the industry, a scene almost unthinkable a few years ago.

Regulators immediately demanded that all vaccine makers identify where their biologic ingredients were coming from.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration had cited two of the vaccine makers for manufacturing problems.

But lawsuits are not the reason so few vaccine makers are in business today.

The ability to grow normal cells indefinitely would be a boon to biologists and vaccine makers.

That gives the countries leverage as they seek their own deals with vaccine makers, as Indonesia did earlier this year.

The president said in his speech that he would ask Congress to grant vaccine makers liability protections, which the industry has sought for decades.

In particular, public health experts have long cautioned against the country's dependence on a few vaccine makers, and yet this has become standard practice.