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.