Vaccine compensation scheme must be reformed, former ministers urge

The compensation scheme for people harmed by Covid vaccines must be reformed, the former vaccine minister and former Attorney General have said.

Nadhim Zahawi, who served as vaccine minister during the pandemic, and Sir Jeremy Wright, the former Attorney General, are urging ministers to examine how the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) works, amid concerns over delays and victims receiving insufficient financial support.

It comes after the Telegraph revealed that the first two legal cases have been brought against AstraZeneca for damages for injuries caused by the pharmaceutical giant’s Covid-19 vaccine.

If successful, it could pave the way for as many as 80 damages claims worth an estimated £80 million. The families involved feel they have been forced to take legal action because of the limited sums awarded by the official compensation scheme.

The scheme awards a one-off £120,000 tax free payment to people who have been severely injured, or to the families of those who have died, as a result of vaccination against certain diseases including Covid-19.

In order to qualify for the payment, individuals have to meet a threshold of 60 per cent “disablement”, and this measure has also been criticised by families as being too harsh.

Today, The Telegraph tells the stories of people who have received compensation after suffering life-changing injuries or being bereaved.

A young mother, widowed after the death of her partner following the jab, has been forced to bring up their child alone, while the career of a leading stage actress has been left in tatters.

In an interview for the Telegraph’s Lockdown Files podcast, Mr Zahawi – who oversaw the vaccine roll-out – said he “hoped the minister responsible would look” at the scheme.

The scheme is operated by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) and the Department of Health and Social Care oversees questions over policy and legislation. The minister responsible is Maria Caulfield MP.

Mr Zahawi said that he could “completely understand” why some families have grown frustrated by claims taking as long as 18 months to be determined.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Sir Jeremy said that both the level of compensation and the 60 per cent threshold needed to be reformed.

“My message to the Government is: do something different. You therefore have to increase the financial threshold because £120,000 is not enough,” he said.

He added: “It requires 60 per cent disablement which is a very high level of disablement. It probably would not be met by a large number of people [who] the public thinks should receive help from the Government.”

The system used by medical assessors to determine claims has been described as “archaic” because it is seen as lending itself more easily to quantifying amputations rather than neurological injuries which can be more complex. It is derived from pre-Second World War industrial injuries and war pension schemes.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that 243 people injured by Covid vaccines have been denied payment, even though medical assessors said the harm was linked to the vaccine, because they did not meet the 60 per cent threshold.

Families of those who have suffered adverse reactions to the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid jab have also called for reform, saying they feel let down after having vaccinations for the “good of society”.  

Kate Scott, whose husband Jamie has been left disabled after receiving the Covid vaccination, said that the funds available from the VDPS scheme “do not come close to the loss of earnings and ongoing medical care” and that in some cases, affected families have needed to use food banks.

The Telegraph revealed that Mr Scott has begun legal action against AstraZeneca.

Serious adverse reactions to Covid vaccinations are rare. The Office for National Statistics recorded 64 vaccine related deaths as of July 2023.

Independent studies show the AstraZeneca vaccine was incredibly effective in tackling the pandemic, saving more than six million lives globally in the first year of the rollout. 

Last year, the World Health Organisation said the vaccine was “safe and effective for all individuals aged 18 and above” and that the adverse effect that has prompted the legal action was “very rare”.

Lawyers and families who have applied for support after being injured or bereaved have said that it takes too long for claims to be processed.

Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act show that as of September 2023, 361 people trying to make a claim had been waiting more than a year.

Of these, 150 claims had been lodged more than 18 months ago.

In total, more than 4,000 claims to the scheme regarding Covid vaccines are still waiting to be determined, the figures show.

Affected by adverse reactions

Sir Jeremy, who is Mr and Mrs Scott’s constituency MP, said that there needed to be an “appropriate system of financial help” for those affected by adverse reactions and that “it seems to me what is available is not sufficient”.

“The vaccine damage compensation scheme was never intended to be a substitute for appropriate compensation but if that is so then the Government is going to have to address how it properly compensates.”

He added: “If it doesn’t reform this we will see more and more cases brought by people who need proper compensation.”

The former minister also raised concerns that if individuals who have vaccines “out of duty” were not adequately compensated, which could “have a real impact on the future uptake of vaccines”.

“The Government should be interested in this – not just over the basic issue of fairness – but also if you want a future policy of mass vaccination to be effective you need to maintain widespread public confidence,” he said.

“The injuries Jamie sustained – given his age and the working years he has left – then £120,000 is not going to cover it. It has left him no choice but to go to court and that isn’t right.”

Mr Zahawi told the Telegraph: “There is no doubt in my mind that vaccines have saved over a million people, not just due to the pandemic but since they were invented.”

But he acknowledged that this “is no comfort to someone who’s lost a loved one to a reaction to a medicine – or a vaccine in this case – and my heart goes out to them”.

The Telegraph has spoken to several families and lawyers who have been critical of the support scheme.

Kam Miller, whose husband Neil, 50, died after receiving the AstraZeneca jab, said that she felt “let down” by the support offered to her and her family because her husband had been vaccinated “for the good of society” rather than to protect himself.

Mrs Miller was critical of the length of time it took to process her application for support because in her case, a coroner had already concluded that Mr Miller’s death was owing to a “rare reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine”.

She said that she felt a payment of £120,000 was an “insult” for the loss of a life.

Mrs Miller said that it took almost a year for her claim to be approved.

This newspaper has also spoken to families who did not receive a pay out despite medical assessors linking the harm to the Covid vaccine.

Jane Scrivener, whose husband Paul was hospitalised in April 2021 following the AstraZeneca jab, said that her husband is “never going to be able to run around or play with his grandchildren… It might not be to them 60 per cent, but it’s life-changing for us”. 

‘No vaccines without side effects’

Speaking for the first time following news of the legal cases, Sir Pascal Soriot, the chief executive of AstraZeneca, highlighted how three billion doses of the jab had been delivered around the world and is “estimated independently to have saved six and a half million lives”.

In a conference call to discuss the company’s results, Sir Pascal was asked by the Telegraph about the legal action and said, “there are no medicines or vaccines without side effects”.

“Anybody who suffers from side effects of course, it makes me sad and I’d like to offer my sympathy but it’s impossible for me to comment on specific cases and suddenly, not only negations, we never comment on litigation.”

He said that “this vaccine, like all vaccines, was approved by regulatory agencies and was seen as having a very good risk benefit profile”.

The chief executive, who is the highest paid CEO among FTSE100 companies, said: “Other vaccines also have experienced side effects… When you treat millions, actually billions in this instance, billions of people around the world, unfortunately, you may experience a few side effects. I don’t necessarily believe it will affect vaccinations in the future.”

Sir Pascal, who runs Britain’s second most valuable listed company, addressed the issue of the Government’s indemnity saying, “in the case of a pandemic vaccine, governments typically indemnify companies, otherwise nobody would develop a vaccine. But beyond that, again, it’s hard for me to comment on specific cases”. 

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said that they had “scaled up and modernised the operations of the VDPS to allow cases to be processed more quickly – including by digitising the application process and increasing the number of administration staff working on claims”.

A spokesman for the NHSBSA said: “We are continuing to work with healthcare providers to access the remaining records as a priority, and to highlight that any delay to receiving medical records impacts the progress of Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims to the independent medical assessment stage.”