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www.telegraph.co.uk
Sarah Knapton, SCIENCE EDITOR 17 August 2024 • 1:03pm
Related Topics
2576
Leona Sanders was left hospital-bound after three jabs. Her husband Seb, a champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on her behalf
Nearly 14,000 people in Britain have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by Covid vaccines, new figures show.
Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph show that payments have already been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb and facial paralysis.
Around 97 per cent of claims awarded relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with just a handful of payments made for damage from Pfizer or Moderna.
Since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) was founded in 1979 it has had around 16,000 applications, but the Covid jab has made up the vast majority of claims.
Seb Sanders, the British champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on behalf of his wife, Leona, who was left hospital-bound after three Covid jabs, but their claim was rejected.
Mrs Sanders, 52, who suffered from the rare autoimmune disorder granulomatosis - which causes inflammation of the blood vessels - was told the jab would not interfere with her condition and, if anything, would be ineffective, because of her impaired immune system.
She had her first AstraZeneca jab in February 2021, followed by a booster in April.
“It was only a day or two after that she collapsed in the bathroom, her left leg had given way, but we weren’t blaming the injection because nobody had warned us, so we never put two and two together,” said Mr Sanders, who is now a pundit for Sky Sports Racing.
She was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where a scan revealed transverse myelitis, a swelling on the spinal cord, which is a known side-effect of the vaccine.
The condition left her unable to walk for seven months and in spite of a brief remission in the summer of 2022, her condition has continued to deteriorate, exacerbated by picking up Covid and developing sepsis while in hospital.
“The collapses all came just days after she had the vaccine,” said Mr Sanders. “But the medical assessor rejected the claim.
“The medical notes said she had a history of back pain and multiple falls, but Leona never complained about back pain or had falls before the jab. She was very active, always with the horses. She never sat down.
“It’s flawed me. I don’t like being made to feel like I am a liar.”
Mr Sanders, a father of one, from Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, added: “Before this I would have been sceptical too about vaccines causing harm. But I go to the supermarket now, and I see all the people walking around normally, and that’s when it really hits home. It’s just not right or fair.
“I’m bringing Leona home, but the prognosis for recovery is slim. We’ll take it day-by-day, but all of this needs looking into properly. The collapses all came just days after she had the vaccine.”
Despite warnings and the growing number of clotting cases, the UK government continued to recommend the AstraZeneca jab, even though vaccination had already been halted in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden and Latvia by March 2021.
Thousands of people have been turned down by medical assessors who say there is no concrete proof that the vaccine caused harm, while hundreds of others have been refused payment because they are “not disabled enough”.
Those who are successful receive a one-off payment of £120,000, but so far, the government has made payments in just 175 cases, fewer than two per cent of people who have applied.
More than 5,500 claims have been rejected, while a further 519 were dismissed before a medical assessment. Despite nearly 1,000 people asking for their cases to be reconsidered, just 12 have been told their decision has been reversed and they will receive a payment.
Nearly 350 claims were rejected because, although assessors accepted the vaccine had caused harm, they ruled it had not “caused severe disablement”. Under the rules, applicants must be 60 per cent disabled to qualify.
The government insists that the VDPS payment is not a compensation scheme, and the money can be used to help claimants chase damages in court.
However, many argue that the VDPS payment is enough to take on big pharmaceutical companies or compensate for the loss of loved ones.
Many millions of people have had the vaccine without suffering complications and modelling has suggested that vaccines may have saved 1.5 million lives in Europe, and that the death toll could have reached four million without the jabs.
Last year, AstraZeneca officially admitted that in some cases the vaccine can cause VITT and in May it began the worldwide withdrawal of the jab, claiming that it was no longer the most effective now that newer vaccines had been adapted to target Covid-19 variants.
Gareth Eve's wife Lisa Shaw died from vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia
However AstraZeneca was granted legal indemnity early in the pandemic, so even if a civil case was successful, UK taxpayers would have to pay compensation.
The number of claims has reached such levels that administrative staff processing claims was increased from four to 80 last year. More than 700 people have been waiting over a year for a decision.
A spokesman for the NHS Business Services Authority, which runs the VDPS, said: “The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is responsible for the policy and legislation that governs the VDPS, including the criteria around severity of disablement
“Since taking over the management of the scheme in 2021, the NHSBSA’s dedicated VDPS team works hard to do all we can to support claimants and to actively make improvements to the claim process. We continually review our processes to further develop the way in which we manage claims, and to provide a better service for claimants.”
A spokesman for AstraZeneca said: “Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.
“Patient safety is our highest priority. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.
“We are incredibly proud of the role Oxford-AstraZeneca played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over six million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally. Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.”
A Pfizer spokesman said: “Patient safety is paramount and we take any reports of adverse events very seriously. Adverse event reports do not imply causality, and in the context of vaccination such events may be unrelated to administration of the vaccine. Hundreds of millions of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered globally and the benefit-risk profile of the vaccine remains positive for all authorised indications and age groups.
“As with every medicine and vaccine, including the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has robust processes to meet its regulatory responsibilities to closely monitor, report and analyse all adverse events, and collect relevant information to assess any new potential safety risks that may be associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
“In addition to our pharmacovigilance efforts and compliance with regulatory requirements related to quality and safety, we also work with regulatory authorities around the world as they independently monitor the safety profile of our vaccine.”
A government spokesman said: “The 60 per cent disablement threshold is aligned to the definition of ‘severe disablement’ consistent, with the Department for Work and Pensions Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
“In the case that an individual’s application is turned down on the basis of disability threshold, there is the option for claimants to appeal the decision.”
Thousands seek compensation after Covid vaccines ‘left them disabled’
Payments have been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord and facial paralysis
www.telegraph.co.uk
Thousands seek compensation after Covid vaccines ‘left them disabled’
Payments have been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord and facial paralysisSarah Knapton, SCIENCE EDITOR 17 August 2024 • 1:03pm
Related Topics
- Coronavirus,
- Pandemics and epidemics,
- Living with Covid,
- NHS (National Health Service),
- Vaccines,
- AstraZeneca
2576
Leona Sanders was left hospital-bound after three jabs. Her husband Seb, a champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on her behalf
Nearly 14,000 people in Britain have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by Covid vaccines, new figures show.
Freedom of Information requests made by The Telegraph show that payments have already been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb and facial paralysis.
Around 97 per cent of claims awarded relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with just a handful of payments made for damage from Pfizer or Moderna.
Since the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) was founded in 1979 it has had around 16,000 applications, but the Covid jab has made up the vast majority of claims.
Seb Sanders, the British champion flat race jockey, has been fighting on behalf of his wife, Leona, who was left hospital-bound after three Covid jabs, but their claim was rejected.
Mrs Sanders, 52, who suffered from the rare autoimmune disorder granulomatosis - which causes inflammation of the blood vessels - was told the jab would not interfere with her condition and, if anything, would be ineffective, because of her impaired immune system.
She had her first AstraZeneca jab in February 2021, followed by a booster in April.
“It was only a day or two after that she collapsed in the bathroom, her left leg had given way, but we weren’t blaming the injection because nobody had warned us, so we never put two and two together,” said Mr Sanders, who is now a pundit for Sky Sports Racing.
Rapid deterioration after third jab
However Mrs Sanders’ condition rapidly deteriorated after a third vaccine - this time Pfizer - in December, when paralysis started to move upwards from her feet.She was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where a scan revealed transverse myelitis, a swelling on the spinal cord, which is a known side-effect of the vaccine.
The condition left her unable to walk for seven months and in spite of a brief remission in the summer of 2022, her condition has continued to deteriorate, exacerbated by picking up Covid and developing sepsis while in hospital.
“The collapses all came just days after she had the vaccine,” said Mr Sanders. “But the medical assessor rejected the claim.
“The medical notes said she had a history of back pain and multiple falls, but Leona never complained about back pain or had falls before the jab. She was very active, always with the horses. She never sat down.
“It’s flawed me. I don’t like being made to feel like I am a liar.”
Mr Sanders, a father of one, from Bury St Edmunds, West Suffolk, added: “Before this I would have been sceptical too about vaccines causing harm. But I go to the supermarket now, and I see all the people walking around normally, and that’s when it really hits home. It’s just not right or fair.
“I’m bringing Leona home, but the prognosis for recovery is slim. We’ll take it day-by-day, but all of this needs looking into properly. The collapses all came just days after she had the vaccine.”
Despite warnings and the growing number of clotting cases, the UK government continued to recommend the AstraZeneca jab, even though vaccination had already been halted in Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden and Latvia by March 2021.
Thousands of people have been turned down by medical assessors who say there is no concrete proof that the vaccine caused harm, while hundreds of others have been refused payment because they are “not disabled enough”.
Those who are successful receive a one-off payment of £120,000, but so far, the government has made payments in just 175 cases, fewer than two per cent of people who have applied.
More than 5,500 claims have been rejected, while a further 519 were dismissed before a medical assessment. Despite nearly 1,000 people asking for their cases to be reconsidered, just 12 have been told their decision has been reversed and they will receive a payment.
Nearly 350 claims were rejected because, although assessors accepted the vaccine had caused harm, they ruled it had not “caused severe disablement”. Under the rules, applicants must be 60 per cent disabled to qualify.
The government insists that the VDPS payment is not a compensation scheme, and the money can be used to help claimants chase damages in court.
However, many argue that the VDPS payment is enough to take on big pharmaceutical companies or compensate for the loss of loved ones.
Many millions of people have had the vaccine without suffering complications and modelling has suggested that vaccines may have saved 1.5 million lives in Europe, and that the death toll could have reached four million without the jabs.
Last year, AstraZeneca officially admitted that in some cases the vaccine can cause VITT and in May it began the worldwide withdrawal of the jab, claiming that it was no longer the most effective now that newer vaccines had been adapted to target Covid-19 variants.
Gareth Eve's wife Lisa Shaw died from vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia
However AstraZeneca was granted legal indemnity early in the pandemic, so even if a civil case was successful, UK taxpayers would have to pay compensation.
The number of claims has reached such levels that administrative staff processing claims was increased from four to 80 last year. More than 700 people have been waiting over a year for a decision.
A spokesman for the NHS Business Services Authority, which runs the VDPS, said: “The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is responsible for the policy and legislation that governs the VDPS, including the criteria around severity of disablement
“Since taking over the management of the scheme in 2021, the NHSBSA’s dedicated VDPS team works hard to do all we can to support claimants and to actively make improvements to the claim process. We continually review our processes to further develop the way in which we manage claims, and to provide a better service for claimants.”
A spokesman for AstraZeneca said: “Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.
“Patient safety is our highest priority. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.
“We are incredibly proud of the role Oxford-AstraZeneca played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over six million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally. Our efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.”
A Pfizer spokesman said: “Patient safety is paramount and we take any reports of adverse events very seriously. Adverse event reports do not imply causality, and in the context of vaccination such events may be unrelated to administration of the vaccine. Hundreds of millions of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered globally and the benefit-risk profile of the vaccine remains positive for all authorised indications and age groups.
“As with every medicine and vaccine, including the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has robust processes to meet its regulatory responsibilities to closely monitor, report and analyse all adverse events, and collect relevant information to assess any new potential safety risks that may be associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
“In addition to our pharmacovigilance efforts and compliance with regulatory requirements related to quality and safety, we also work with regulatory authorities around the world as they independently monitor the safety profile of our vaccine.”
A government spokesman said: “The 60 per cent disablement threshold is aligned to the definition of ‘severe disablement’ consistent, with the Department for Work and Pensions Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit.
“In the case that an individual’s application is turned down on the basis of disability threshold, there is the option for claimants to appeal the decision.”
