10/5/2025: Vaccine Court, The Tequila Heist, This is Rob Reiner

0:07The chances of serious vaccine injury have been likened to lottery odds, lightning strikes. But if you are one of the unlucky few, you can file a case in vaccine court.

0:18Sharyn Alfonsi:I represent both vaccine-injured children and adults. Most of them will start the conversation by saying, I'm not anti-vax. Why do you think they need to tell you right off the bat they're not anti-vax, but? There's a lot of public pressure that people think you're some kind of a crazy person or you're out there. And also because most people have never heard of a vaccine injury. They're rare. Tonight's story involves a celebrity chef, a rock star, and a highway heist that even Hollywood couldn't dream up. Well, when the president of your company calls you and says, you're not going to believe this, but you lost two truckloads of Santo tequila.

0:53Sharyn Alfonsi:Lost. I said, well, wait, wait, wait, is this a hijacking? Not quite. International cyber criminals have found new ways to steal hundreds of millions of dollars of goods. It looks like a Costco in here. You've got everything. Yes.

1:1041 years after the cult classic This Is Final Tap, Rob Reiner and the band have come back together for a sequel. Close. Very close. He's totally ad-libbing. Half a wheel. It's all improvised. We schnadel with each other and whatever comes out. We schnadel with each other? Yeah, it's like doing schtick, you know. Are you and I schnadling right now? We are schnadling right now. We're in the process of schnadling right now. I'm Leslie Stahl. I'm Bill Whitaker. I'm Anderson Cooper.

1:42Sharyn Alfonsi:I'm Sharon Alfonsi. I'm John Wertheim. I'm Cecilia Vega. I'm Scott Pelley. Those stories, and in our last minute, what viewers thought about last week's broadcast. Tonight, on 60 Minutes.

2:02If you've never before heard of the National Vaccine Court, you're hardly alone. It sits inconspicuously a few hundred yards from the White House and stands as a model of effective public policy, balancing the societal good of widespread vaccination with rare individual harm. Founded in the 1980s, the court has, with little fanfare, paid out billions of dollars to Americans who have claimed injury after getting a vaccine. Today, with vaccine skepticism rising and given voice in the highest ranks of government, we wondered, can this singular court block out the noise, withstand the political winds, and stay true to its mission?

2:41You ready to go? Yeah. All right, say go. Go. Jacob Thompson is 13 years old. Here we go. He loves airplanes, swimming, and Chick-fil-A. But Jacob can speak only a handful of words and needs help walking more than a few yards. Jacob was born in St. Louis on New Year's Eve 2011, rounding out a family of four with sister May Lee and parents John and Wally. He a pilot for FedEx, she a recent immigrant from China. We had this perfectly normal, happy little baby. He would be able to jump up and down on my wife's lap and very alert, recognized who mom and dad was. At his six-month checkup, Jacob received a combination shot that included the recommended childhood vaccinations against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, or DTaP, all deemed safe and effective in clinical trials.

3:39Hours later, Jacob began to seize. Doctors hoped it was a one-time reaction. It wasn't. Within, I'd say, six months or less, he didn't know that we were mom and dad anymore, and he was slithering on the floor like a snake. Unrecognizable from the child you knew. By age two, Jacob could suffer up to 700 seizures in one day. He was diagnosed with a rare and severe form of epilepsy. Is he getting blue? The Thompsons became increasingly convinced that his condition could be traced back to his six-month vaccinations, and they began to seek accountability. They took their case to attorney Renee Gentry.

4:20Sharyn Alfonsi:That's circumstantial evidence because it's not direct evidence. She's a leading vaccine injury litigator and director of the Vaccine Injury Litigation Clinic at George Washington University Law School in Washington, D.C. Perfect. I represent both vaccine-injured children and adults. All of my clients are vaccinated. Most of them will start the conversation by saying, I'm not anti-vax. Why do you think they need to tell you right off the bat they're not anti-vax, but... There's a lot of public pressure when you say that you have a vaccine injury, that people think you're some kind of a crazy person or you're out there.

4:52Sharyn Alfonsi:And also because most people have never heard of a vaccine injury. They're rare. So rare that, while hard to quantify precisely, the chances of serious vaccine injury have been likened to lottery odds, lightning strikes. Bear in mind, in total, global immunization has saved an estimated 154 million lives, six lives each minute. But when an injury does occur, families can come to vaccine court, seen in this informational video. Part of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, the court was established in response to a public health scare in the 1980s. The health of millions of children may be at stake.

5:33When families of injured children went to civil court and successfully sued the manufacturers of the DTP vaccine, an older version of DTAP, It caused all but one of those drug companies to pull out of the market, resulting in vaccine shortages. Congress acted, crafting a bipartisan bill that partially shielded drug manufacturers from liability so they would continue to develop life-saving vaccines. And at the same time, Congress acknowledged that vaccines can cause injury. As bill sponsor Senator Ted Kennedy described, when children are, quote, the victims of an appropriate and rational national policy, a compassionate government will assist them in their hour of need.

6:15Sharyn Alfonsi:It was hailed as such a unique accomplishment back in the day because you had these disparate groups. You had the parents of vaccine-injured children together in the room with the manufacturers. And everybody agreed that this was the best-case scenario. Is that fair to the public? They think they have an injury caused by a vaccine, but they can't sue the vaccine manufacturer directly. You can still opt out of this program and sue a manufacturer. You have to just start in this program. But it's a lower burden of proof in our program, so it's an easier thing for vaccine-injured people to get compensation.

6:48Drug companies are not only not being sued, they're not part of the proceedings. Vaccine court is a no-fault court, meaning in cases like Jacob Thompson's, negligence does not need to be proven, just that the vaccine, more likely than not, caused the injury. Vaccine court is not your typical court. There's no jury. Cases are decided in front of one of a judge's called Special Masters. Since the program began in the late 80s, 12 ,000 Americans have received almost$5 billion in payouts. There are no financial windfalls for lawyers. The court pays them by the hour. Where does all this money come from?

7:26A 75-cent tax imposed on recommended childhood vaccines goes into a trust fund earmarked for vaccine injury compensation. In July, the Thompsons received a judgment of$2.1 million based on the special master's ruling that it was more probable than not that Jacob's six-month vaccinations aggravated an underlying genetic mutation. Jacob also received a lifetime annuity to cover his future care. Is there any doubt that the vaccine caused Jacobs' injury?

7:58Sharyn Alfonsi:We can't ever prove scientific certainty on it. Does that not mean, though, that some cases are being compensated when, in fact, the science might not support it? Sure. And that's what Congress intended. There's very clear indication that said it would be better to compensate somebody that wasn't injured than to miss somebody who was. How do you feel about that? I think that's fine. While vaccines are critically important public health tools, they're not magic. You know, you can have an allergic reaction to aspirin. So it's a lot of different factors come into play to have a person be injured by a vaccine.

8:27Sharyn Alfonsi:Their genetics, their immune system, that's why the no-fault part is critical. The vaccine caused it, but there's no bad actor in this case. The program is structured around a vaccine injury table, basically a conversion chart of vaccines and eligible injuries. If your child, for instance, got a rubella vaccine and developed chronic arthritis, Within 7 and 42 days, you may be eligible for damages. The most common compensation is for shoulder injuries suffered from a misplaced injection. You can file for an injury not on the table. Overall, half of all claims have been dismissed. Today, vaccines on the table have jumped from the original 6 to 16, including the annual flu shot, though notably not COVID.

9:12As for the eligible injuries, autism is not one of them. That decision did not come easily, as retired special masters Denise Fowle and George Hastings explained. There's been a lot of talk lately about a possible link between vaccines and autism. This has been litigated and decided in your court 15 years ago. You know, I spent many, many years of my life almost full time looking at that issue. In the early 2000s, cases alleging vaccinations caused autism flooded the court. Val, Hastings, and a third special master oversaw what was a class action of sorts, a vaccine court proceeding that spanned almost a decade, incorporating testimony from dozens of medical experts and hundreds of scientific articles.

10:02What did you ultimately conclude?

10:06Sharyn Alfonsi:Ultimately concluded there simply was not the evidence. I hoped there would be. Why? Because the parents of children with autism go through so much. But Val said she could not decide cases based on sentiment. I had to apply the law, and the law was that if there is a preponderance of evidence of vaccine causation, I rule for them. If there isn't, I rule against them. All three special masters concluded there was no link between vaccines and autism. On appeal, eight additional federal judges unanimously upheld the vaccine court decisions. This has not been persuasive to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. After 30 years of steady rises in autism rates, I don't know if we know the answer to that.

10:55We should know the answer. We wanted to know RFK Jr.'s views about vaccine court, the court his uncle championed, Because today, as Secretary of Health and Human Services, he is imbued with the authority to add or redefine injuries on the vaccine table. He declined our request for an on-camera interview, but said via email that yes, he would like to expand the table, which he hopes will create an easier path to compensation. In particular, he wants to broaden definitions for seizures and encephalopathy, two neurological conditions that can be associated with autism. Although the original intent was idealistic, compassionate, and sensible, the court, RFK Jr.

11:39told us, has become a disaster for the families of injured children. Its effective function is delay, denial, and systematic cruelty. Vaccine court delays are something Ryan Farrell knows only too well. Husband to Angela and father of three, Ryan worked as a lineman for a Boston-area power company, hanging electrical wires 100 feet high. On the job in 2017, Ryan cut his hand on rusty metal and got a tetanus shot. A few days later, the pain started. I felt like my back was just like being stabbed. He would take a shower. He was like, I feel like there's razor blades hitting my skin. Over the next few years, Ryan was hospitalized multiple times.

12:25Doctors diagnosed him with a rare autoimmune disease. I didn't want to live for a long time. You know, that's how it felt. When did you make the link that had this vaccine? Maybe there's some correlation here. I need the correlation. Like most Americans, Angela Farrell had never heard of vaccine court, but she stumbled upon it online and found a lawyer. They filed a case in 2019. And only in July did the special master rule. The tetanus shot, more likely than not, led to Ryan's illness. Do you feel like you were treated with compassion? I mean, the special master was kind to me and my family when we were in the courtroom.

13:03Court was intended to compensate people for vaccine injuries. I want to quote this quickly, easily, and with certainty and generosity. That couldn't be further from the truth. What do you mean? I feel like they made it way too, way too long. Ryan remains unable to work. Six years in, the court has yet to determine his damages. The court acknowledges the delays. Citing a backlog of more than 3 ,000 cases, its chief special master has, in documents obtained by 60 Minutes, asked Congress for more resources four years running, saying it becomes more difficult each year to resolve the huge number of case filings in the expedient fashion they deserve.

13:46Congress has yet to act. Our reporting suggests that this inaction is in part because vaccination has become such a loaded, heavily politicized issue that legislators are reluctant to wade in. The Thompsons are not invested in the heavily charged vaccine debate. They're invested in their son, Jacob, an anguishing exception harmed by what's otherwise a public health force of good. I do wonder if people aren't going to hear your story and be terrified of giving their kids vaccinations. We're definitely not anti-vaxxers. We think, I mean, vaccines are great. They've done a lot to help people. But I think that parents need to know what can happen.

14:30Sharyn Alfonsi:If what you care about are vaccine-injured people and them being compensated, then you want this court to work and you want this court to be here. I mean, we have this program that incentivizes the manufacturing of vaccines, but also acknowledges that in some rare cases, there are injuries and damages. Right. It's bipartisan. It takes everyone's views into account. And everybody compromises, which is a dirty word now, but that's the goal of it. And it's helped these people. Jacob will be taken care of for the rest of his life because of this program.

15:09Sharyn Alfonsi:There's no shortage of unbelievable stories that start with tequila, and this is one of them. It involves a celebrity chef, a rock star, and a highway heist that even Hollywood couldn't dream up. Last November, two semi-trucks carrying more than a million dollars worth of Santo Tequila, a brand founded by Food Network star Guy Fieri and former Van Halen frontman Sammy Hagar, disappeared on its way to the warehouse. If you're wondering how in the world that much tequila can just vanish, we did too. It turns out international crime groups have found new ways to infiltrate the global supply chain online to steal hundreds of millions of dollars of goods.

15:52Sharyn Alfonsi:Guy Fieri got a crash course on this sophisticated high-tech theft after a sobering call from the president of his company. Well, when the president of your company calls you and says, we have a problem, what's up? And he goes, you're not going to believe this, but we lost two truckloads of Santo Tequila. Lost. I said, elaborate on lost. He says, well, they disappeared. I said, well, is this a hijacking? I said, are the drivers okay? I said, is this a, because all my mind goes to is goodfellas and, you know, that's what I'm thinking is happening. He said, no, no, no, no, the trucks, they were appropriated, but we don't know where they are.

16:32I'm like, it's not a needle in a haystack. I mean, this is a semi-tractor truck. My mind is swimming in exactly how do you lose, you know, that many thousands of bottles of tequila.

16:45Sharyn Alfonsi:24 ,000 bottles of tequila, enough alcohol to fuel a lifetime of bad decisions. The tequila started out like every other Santo batch In western Mexico, where it was distilled and bottled From there, it was trucked to the U.S.-Mexico border Through customs and unloaded in Laredo, Texas The next day, it was moved into two semi-trucks That were supposed to head to the Santo tequila warehouse In Lansdale, Pennsylvania When was the first indication something's not normal here? The product was due on Wednesday to our warehouse in Pennsylvania. And on Thursday morning, the logistics company told us there was a water pump cooler problem with the truck.

17:33It's just going to be a slight delay.

17:35Sharyn Alfonsi:Dan Butkus is the CEO of Santo Spirits. He told us, like many small businesses, Santo doesn't have their own delivery trucks. So they rely on a logistics company to hire trucking companies to ship their tequila. On Friday, two days after the shipment was supposed to arrive, the trucking company started sending more excuses about why it was late. Dan Butkus was informed that the truck was near Washington, D.C. with a water pump issue. The logistics company emailed him a video they received of a broken-down semi with a note. Looks like the issue is bigger than he thought. Mechanics advise the truck will be fixed Saturday.

18:18Sharyn Alfonsi:He says he can deliver Sunday, but I know y 'all are closed so he can be there first thing Monday. So the tequila's late, but you don't think anything's wrong because they're sending emails. Yeah, we don't think anything's wrong. We're a day or two behind delivery. And meanwhile, they track these with GPS. So someone's checking to make sure the truck is where it says it is. And on GPS, it looks like it's in D.C. where they say it is. Then on Monday, we get an email that the truck is close. GPS says it's within a couple miles of our warehouse in Lansdale. Can you let us know when it arrives? The tequila never arrived in Pennsylvania.

19:01Sharyn Alfonsi:Here's what happened. The logistics company that worked for Santo hired a trucking company to move the tequila from Texas to Pennsylvania. But then that trucking company outsourced the job to two other trucking companies who then hired drivers. The problem is those second trucking companies were fake, with phony letterheads, email addresses and phone numbers to appear legitimate. It's a bit of a tractor-trailer shell game called double brokering, and it happens more than you might expect. Santos CEO Dan Butkus learned it was all part of an elaborate ruse set up to buy time and steal the tequila.

19:42Sharyn Alfonsi:So the email that came to you guys was fake. The picture was fake. The GPS was phony. The GPS signal was spoofed. They call it spoofed or emulated. The thieves had manipulated the GPS to make it look like the tequila was still on its way to Pennsylvania. This is the essence of real tequila. Making matters worse, Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar had been heavily promoting a new special tequila ahead of the holiday season that took three and a half years to make. And all of it was on those two missing trucks. It's not like we're sitting on huge reserves. So you can't just say, turn it up, we're going to keep making more.

20:25That's exactly what we couldn't do. And then you have to go back to the retailer and say, you're not going to believe this.

20:33Sharyn Alfonsi:How did this impact the business? Oh, it hurt. It hurt bad. You know, here we are, we're coming right into the fourth quarter. We lose all the tequila. We can't fill the shelves. We had to lay off players, you know. And that's the hardest thing, knowing how many people are counting on you. So, yeah, it hurt all the way around. Did you think you were being targeted? Well, there's a side of me that still says, yeah. It wasn't a truckload of screwdrivers, you know. It wasn't a truckload of baskets. They were coming across the border. Someone knew what it was, and tequila is a hot commodity. That's why Keith Lewis was called in.

21:13Sharyn Alfonsi:He's a former cop who runs operations for CargoNet, a company that works with law enforcement to solve these kinds of crimes. Lewis says last year, U.S. businesses lost more than$230 million of goods to physical heists and those engineered online. Let's start with the tequila case. How common is something like that? It happens multiple times a day. How does all of this impact consumers and the prices they pay? 100 % falls back on the consumer's shoulders. 100%. We pay at the pump for this. We pay at the grocery store at the point of sale. Lewis started investigating and began to piece together how the tequila heist was pulled off.

21:55Sharyn Alfonsi:He says the criminals created fake online profiles of trucking companies, bid on jobs they suspected might be valuable, and hired unsuspecting drivers online. Then, instead of sending the drivers to the Santo Warehouse in Pennsylvania, the criminals redirected them to deliver the shipment into their hands. And instead of taking it to the destination that was on the bill waiting, they told them to take that load to Los Angeles. And the drivers are not in on this. The driver that picked it up has no idea that he's committing a crime. He thinks he's taking a legitimate load to a legitimate place.

22:33Sharyn Alfonsi:Yes. Doing his job. Doing his job. And he's being directed instead by criminals. Correct. Once investigators determined how the tequila was diverted to California, they tried to figure out who did it. But that was tougher, because unlike the kind of cargo theft you typically think of, like this, with guys in mass breaking into trucks with bolt cutters, there was no suspect description or fingerprints. Lewis says the tequila heist was orchestrated entirely online. You're saying that these folks don't even need to be in the same country sometimes. No, and we've tracked them to over 40 different countries around the world.

23:13Sharyn Alfonsi:And investigators say the tequila heist had all the characteristics of a criminal gang operating out of Armenia, 7 ,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, where the tequila was last seen. Keith Lewis says that kind of theft, where criminals remotely redirect cargo to steal it, has spiked 1 ,200 percent in the last four years. If you think about online dating, for example, you can be anywhere in the world and set up a date with someone. It's the same thing in the supply chain. You can be anywhere in the world, go online, and book that load. We don't do business face-to-face anymore. We don't have the hand-to-hand transactions.