Almost 14,000 people have applied for payments from the government for alleged harm caused by the Covid vaccines, new data shows.
Freedom of Information requests reveal that there have been payouts for conditions including heart attack, stroke, blood clot, inflammation of the spine, facial paralysis and excessive swelling of the vaccinated body part.
Of the claims, approximately 97 percent relate to the AstraZeneca vaccine, with a handful relating to the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) was founded in 1979 but almost 90 percent of its claims relate to Covid vaccines.
Among the people claiming they have been impacted by the side effects of Covid vaccines are champion flat race jockey Seb Sanders and his wife Leona.
Leona collapsed days after her first two AstraZeneca jabs in 2021. After her third – a Pfizer – she started to become paralysed from the feet upwards and was left hospital-bound.
The 52-year-old, who suffered from the rare autoimmune disorder granulomatosis, was reportedly told the jab would not interfere with her condition and, if anything, would be ineffective due to her impaired immune system.
The woman was taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, where tests revealed transverse myelitis – a swelling of the spinal cord – which is a known side effect of the jab.
The condition meant she was unable to walk for seven months and despite things improving in the summer of 2022, her health has since deteriorated after catching Covid and sepsis whilst in hospital.
“The collapses all came just days after she had the vaccine,” Seb told The Telegraph. “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.”
He went on: “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.”
A spokesman for AstraZeneca told the publication: “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 told The Telegraph: “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.”