AstraZeneca is set for £80m Covid jab fight
THE claims of 35 alleged victims of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine have been lodged against the pharmaceutical giant in what threatens to be one of the biggest legal cases of its kind.
Lawyers have issued the claims amounting to tens of millions of pounds in the High Court over complications they say were caused by the vaccine, months after launching two test cases.
The cases highlight what is claimed to be a very rare side effect that has been linked to the deaths of at least 81 people and caused serious harm to hundreds more. The claims allege the vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca in partnership with the University of Oxford, is “defective”.
The vaccine has been linked to a newly identified condition that causes blood clots called Vaccine-Induced
Immune Thrombocytopenia and Thrombosis (VITT). In about one-infive cases, patients with VITT died.
The Telegraph understands that up to 40 more claims are expected to follow. The total compensation bill, should AstraZeneca lose, amounts to about £80million, making it one of the most expensive vaccine litigation cases ever.
The Government has underwritten any legal action brought against AstraZeneca as part of its deal in rolling out the Covid-19 vaccine programme. Manufacturers of the other Covid vaccines have also received Government indemnification.
Sir Jeremy Wright, the former attorney general, is urging Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, to intervene and settle the cases before they reach court.
One of his constituents, Jamie Scott, suffered a “significant permanent brain injury”. Sir Jeremy said: “The public need the confidence to know they will be looked after if in the tiny, tiny minority of cases where the vaccine has gone wrong. And that confidence is damaged if the Government does not step in and settle these cases.”
Under the Government’s Vaccine
Damage Payment scheme, people who suffer adverse reactions that lead to death or a 60 per cent disability are entitled to a one-off payment of £120,000 tax free. But lawyers argue that sum is wholly inadequate in many of the cases where people have died or been forced to give up lucrative careers.
The scheme has paid out in about 150 cases, of which all but a handful occurred after receiving the AstraZeneca jab.
One of the new cases has been lodged by the widower of Nicola Weideling, an employee of Oxford University, who died aged 45 in May 2021 after having the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine. A coroner has already ruled that the cause of death was VITT.
Her husband Kurt has urged AsatraZeneca to settle the claim. His wife died after developing blood clots and suffering a “significant brain bleed”.
Another case involves Kerry Williams, now 36, of Polegate, East Sussex, whose previously healthy 37-year-old engineer husband Ben, died suddenly after feeling unwell at the end of February 2021 following a Covid jab.
He had taken it to protect more vulnerable family members and because he believed it offered a “way out” of lockdown.
At first, his symptoms were similar to a bad cold. He felt chilly and was shivering. Later, he developed extreme headaches, a rash on his leg and a limp.
By the middle of March, his wife was becoming increasingly worried. He was sweating and had severe stomach pain and looked extremely unwell. So he was admitted to hospital where he was wrongly diagnosed with appendicitis.
When the hospital called to say that her husband had died on March 17, Kerry Williams felt complete shock.
Only half an hour before, medics had told her that he was going in for surgery for suspected appendicitis. She had kissed him goodbye and said she would be right behind him.
Unfortunately, because of lockdown rules, it was the last time she saw him. She recalled: “It was completely off the radar. It wasn’t in my range of possibilities.”
Following the news, she ended up wandering the streets, unable to comprehend what had happened and why, when he was apparently so healthy. “The whole hospital, the staff were just really distraught,” she said, tears filing her eyes. “I know everyone says this when they have lost someone, but his character was just so warm.”
After receiving the news, Mrs Williams went to the hospital to see her husband’s body. It was at this point that she started to question if his death might be linked to the jab. She said: “I was saying when I went to visit him, I think this is the vaccine. But I was made to feel like I was absolutely bonkers.”
Even friends thought she was reaching the wrong conclusion. “No one believed me,” she said. An angry Mrs Williams feels that she and other bereaved families have been “completely ignored”.
She has joined the court battle, she says, to so that people like her get a voice “to ensure they get justice”.
AstraZeneca has denied its vaccine was “defective” and has insisted the claims against the company are “confused” and “wrong in law”.
AstraZeneca points out the vaccine is estimated to have saved six million lives in its first year of rollout. The vaccine is no longer used in the UK as part of the booster programme.
Lawyers lodge 35 High Court claims with up to 40 expected to follow in one of biggest cases of its kind
‘I said when I went to see his body his death might be linked to the jab but was made to feel I was bonkers’