Families with family members who died or suffered severe unintended effects after receiving the Covid vaccine say they’re being “ignored”.
Greater than 1,200 claims have been made to the Vaccines Damages Payment Scheme (VDPS), which entitles successful applicants to as much as £120,000 if a causal link between vaccination and severe response, culminating in injury or death, is proven.
But so far, the federal government is yet to pay out any type of compensation for affected individuals.
Some applicants have been waiting nearly a 12 months, despite families having medical certificates confirming that vaccination was liable for the death of their family members.
The federal government says that the typical claim to the VDPS should take “around six months” to analyze and process.
Sarah Moore, a lawyer who represents 95 families looking for claims, said her clients felt “silenced and ignored,” adding that they can’t discuss vaccine-linked injuries as to accomplish that risks accusations of being anti-vax.
“For that reason they can’t even grieve in the traditional way,” she told The Independent.
Vikki Spit, whose partner Zion died on the age of 48 following a rare but severe response to the AstraZeneca vaccine, said she and other affected families waiting for support had been “ignored entirely”, ridiculed and called liars.
Ms Spit said the difficulty had been ‘swept under the rug’
(Vikki Spit)
Ms Spit said she had been accused of jumping on the anti-vax campaign but insisted: “Zion did the correct thing and now he and the others are being swept under the rug, not discussed.”
The Covid vaccines have been proven to be extremely protected and effective, saving a whole lot of 1000’s of lives, but as with all medicine utilized by hundreds of thousands of individuals, rare unintended effects are to be expected.
These can range from the extremely rare blood clots detected in some recipients of the AstraZeneca jab – a link that has been acknowledged by Britain’s medicines regulator – to other conditions, equivalent to myocarditis, or heart inflammation, triggered by the Pfizer vaccine.
Of the tens of hundreds of thousands of individuals vaccinated against Covid within the UK, 79 have died consequently of the rare blood clotting disorder triggered by the AstraZeneca jab, which is not any longer being rolled out in Britain.
A complete of 440 people have been affected by blood clotting linked to the vaccine, based on the UK’s medicines regulator.
Ms Moore said it was vital the federal government financially supports the small minority of people that, in exceptional circumstances, have been harmed by vaccination and even died.
“The federal government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was created to acknowledge the losses suffered by families affected and supply some financial support,” she said.
“Yet, a 12 months on from their initial applications, not one of the families with whom we’re working have received any VDPS payments.
Martin Brighty suffered rare blood clotting after being vaccinated against Covid-19
(Martin Brighty)
“As a substitute, they continue to be embattled with the VDPS, whilst also coming to terms with grief and in some cases recent caring responsibilities.”
The federal government has acknowledged that there’s “increasing” scientific evidence “that supports an association between the Covid vaccines and a few extremely rare and limited adversarial effects”.
Because of this of this evidence, officials are “now ready to start progressing existing” claims, based on a letter sent by NHS Business Service Authority to a claimant on 15 February 2022.
It’s understood the federal government has contracted Crawford & Co, a claims management company, to start processing applications. The primary assessment is to start within the week commencing 16 May.
But Ms Moore said the VDPS was moving far too slowly and that the vast majority of her clients had been waiting “well over” six months for compensation after first making a claim.
Considered one of her families submitted an application greater than 50 weeks ago. In an email received on Tuesday, the family was told by a VDPS caseworker that “we’re unable provide an accurate timescale for when [the] claim is more likely to reach a conclusion, for which I apologise. We currently anticipate that that is more likely to take as much as 12 weeks.”
Ms Moore’s clients are a mix of people that suffered rare severe unintended effects from the Covid jabs and families whose family members died following vaccination.
A really small proportion of individuals given a Covid vaccine suffered severe unintended effects
(Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Ten of her clients have received a final or interim death certificate that concludes vaccination was liable for the death of their relative or partner. Five of those submitted their application greater than six months ago, Ms Moore said.
In one other case, prime minister Boris Johnson personally wrote to a claimant promising his help – yet nothing has come of this offer, Ms Moore said.
As of 25 March 2022, a complete of 1,210 claims regarding the Covid vaccines had been made to the VDPS, data show. Typically, just 80 claims a 12 months are made to the VDPS, The Independent understands.
To qualify for a payment under the VDPS, claimants must show their disablement was brought on by vaccination and that the resulting injury is “severe” – not less than 60 per cent or more based on the Department for Work and Pensions’ Industrial Injuries scale.
Applicants are requested to supply medical records and proof of hospital appointments related to their condition.
Nevertheless, families previously told The Independent that the VDPS is outdated, “solely paper-based form in a world of technology,” and has not been updated to take note of the Covid vaccines.
Ms Moore also said there usually are not enough case staff to assist support families, a lot of whom are grieving, and reply to enquiries.
Ms Spit said she had “received no help” while applying to the VDPS after she lost her partner, whose death was brought on by vaccination, as confirmed by a coroner. “I’ve had multiple cut and paste answers to my questions, but only a few actual answers,” she said.
“My faith within the system is just about gone. Emotionally, mentally, physically I proceed to suffer. The best way we’ve been repeatedly fobbed off has massively added to this, on top of the unimaginable toll of losing Zion after 21 years so suddenly.”
Martin Brighty, who suffered rare blood clotting after vaccination, said he been “abandoned” and “betrayed” by the federal government.
“We usually are not anti-vaccine, we went when asked for the advantage of society as an entire only to be left bereaved or disabled after which ignored. The entire of the federal government is clearly too scared to even acknowledge us and our suffering.”
Lord Philip Hunt, a Labour peer and considered one of the few politicians to have raised the difficulty in parliament, said “the present system is outdated and slow to reply”.
“The federal government must review it and make sure the affected families and individuals receive their payments as swiftly as possible,” he added. “It’s in the general public interest that if persons are damaged by the vaccine, to supply them with support.”
A government spokesperson said: “We’re working through claims made through the VDPS as quickly as possible, and the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) has a team of caseworkers dedicated to keeping claimants updated.
“NHSBSA has also contracted a supplier to specifically review medical assessments as a way to provide outcomes for claimants as quickly as possible, but can only accomplish that once they’ve received full medical records for the claimant, which may take time.”
The federal government said all vaccines getting used within the UK met the MHRA’s “strict standards of safety, effectiveness and quality.”
So far, greater than 140 million Covid vaccinations have been rolled out in Britain.
