- Payments have been awarded for conditions including stroke, heart attack, blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord and facial paralysis
Nearly 14,000 people in Britain have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by Covid vaccines, with payments awarded for conditions such as stroke, heart attack, blood clots, spinal cord inflammation, excessive swelling, and facial paralysis. Around 97% of claims relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with only a few 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. British champion flat race jockey Seb Sanders has been fighting on behalf of his wife, Leona, who was left hospital-bound after three Covid jabs but their claim was rejected.
Leona’s condition rapidly deteriorated after a third vaccine, Pfizer, and she was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
The UK government has continued to recommend the AstraZeneca jab despite warnings and a growing number of clotting cases. Medical assessors have turned down thousands of people who claim there is no concrete proof of vaccine harm, while hundreds of others have been refused payment because they are “not disabled enough”.
Successful applicants receive a one-off payment of £120,000, but 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, and 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. 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.
Many millions of people have had the vaccine without suffering complications, and modelling suggests that vaccines may have saved 1.5 million lives in Europe and that the death toll could have reached four million without the jabs.
