We must help those harmed by the Covid-19 vaccine

I have introduced into this Parliamentary session my Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Bill which is due for second reading on 29 November 2024. It is in similar terms to a Bill presented in the last Parliament and seeks to establish an independent review of disablement caused by Covid-19 vaccinations and the adequacy of the compensation offered to persons so disabled. As part of this, I envisage that the Government should make special provision for financial assistance to those who have suffered disablement or bereavement following Covid-19 vaccinations. The Government should also re-examine the current arrangements by reporting to Parliament on factors such as the merits of a special no-fault compensation scheme, whether there should be any upper limit on the financial assistance available, the criteria for eligibility and whether payment should be made where there is no other reasonable cause for the death or disablement suffered. Finally, the Government needs to address the limitation issues affecting those wishing to bring court proceedings by seeking a re-examination of the current three-year limitation period for Covid-19 vaccine damage claims.

The latest information, given by the NHS Business Services Authority in response to freedom of information requests, is that 15,804 claims have been received by the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) relating to ill-effects from Covid-19 vaccinations (as of 25 September 2024). Of these, only half have been notified of an outcome, 188 have been awarded a Vaccine Damage Payment and just under half (7,748) have been rejected even though, in some cases, causation has been accepted. 579 claims have been successful in establishing that the death or injury has been caused by a Covid-19 vaccine. Unfortunately, 391 of these otherwise successful claims have been denied any financial redress on the ground that, although the vaccine caused their disability, they were not deemed to be “severely disabled” for the purposes of the 60% disability threshold.

The VDPS is a non-compensatory scheme which awards a payment of £120,000 to help with the care of those suffering ill-effects or bereavement from vaccines. On 31 December 2020, the provisions of the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979 were extended to Covid-19 vaccines such that those who suffered damage causing at least 60% disablement would receive the payment. Despite this, the VDPS has been shown to be unsatisfactory in addressing the unique circumstances arising from Covid-19 vaccines. The amount of the payment has not been updated since 2007 – not even by inflation – and many of those harmed say that the amount does not meet the costs of life-long care associated with Covid-19 vaccine harm. Recently, Professor Adam Finn, a leading expert on vaccines who was a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation at the time of the pandemic, has added his voice to the growing concerns. He has expressed that the VDPS was “clearly not working as it should” and has publicly supported an increase to the VDPS payment.

The disability threshold is tied to that of the Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit Scheme which accounts only for specific physical injuries, and therefore elides direct comparison of harms caused by Covid-19 vaccines, such as serious autoimmune and similar conditions. When it comes to proving causation, I have received many reports from applicants that the assessments have been cursory or dismissive, often made ‘on the papers’ alone or in a way which does not properly engage with the medical evidence provided. Another theme has been that those harmed have suffered a lack of support or cynicism from the NHS, unlike their counterparts suffering from Long Covid, for example.

Accordingly, those harmed are turning to the courts for compensation, but are encountering problems in that avenue of recourse also. Many had their vaccinations administered in early 2021 but the type of claims available to them are generally time-barred after three years. Applicants are advised to wait for the outcome of their VDPS claim before proceeding, yet more than 700 applicants have been waiting for over a year for a decision to their VDPS application, which further prejudices their ability to raise a court claim in the applicable timeframe. Lawyers representing groups of claimants are focussing on certain ill-effects rather than others – such as the perhaps easier to prove Vaccine Induced Immune Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia over and above all other conditions. The practical effect is that those who have suffered lesser-known conditions have struggled to find legal assistance.

So far, the new Labour Government has failed to substantively grapple with these issues. The numbers of applicants to the VDPS are increasing over time – press reports indicate that, in August 2024, the number of applicants was 14,000 which indicates that applications have recently been increasing at a rate of roughly 1,000 – 2,000 applications a month. I have asked many Parliamentary Questions on issues such as why the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccination was quietly retired in 2022, whether current vaccinations have had modifications owing to side effects, and if the Government will support my proposals for change. It is encouraging, however, that the Secretary of State has recently met with patient groups and promised that “the Government will look closely” at these issues. An easy way for the Government to deliver on this commitment would be to support my Covid-19 Vaccine Damage Bill thereby not only showing solidarity with those who did the right thing by being vaccinated but also helping to restore trust in vaccinations generally.