AstraZeneca Sued Over COVID-19 Vaccine Injuries

Vials labelled "AstraZeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine" and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo, in this illustration photo taken on March 14, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Families and patients are suing vaccine manufacturer AstraZeneca in the UK, claiming that their loved ones died or suffered severe reactions after taking its vaccine, according to their lawyers.

A legal team representing a group of vaccine-injured people is pursuing personal injury compensation against AstraZeneca, arguing that the vaccine was “not as safe as the public were entitled to expect.”

Peter Todd, consultant solicitor with Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, told The Epoch Times by email that he has started a claim against AstraZeneca under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.

“I have started a claim against AstraZeneca seeking damages for injury (namely thrombosis with thrombocytopenia) and consequential loss caused by their COVID vaccine,” he said.

“The claim is under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, which holds manufacturers liable for injury caused by a defective product,” he added.

People pose with syringe with needle in front of displayed AstraZeneca logo on Dec. 11, 2021. Dado Ruvic/Illustration/Reuters

Todd said that it is “not necessary to prove fault.”

“A product is defective under this legislation if it is not as safe as consumers were reasonably entitled to expect. Our contention is that the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine was not as safe as consumers were reasonably entitled to expect in that it caused serious injury or death when we were assured it had been established to be safe through extensive clinical trials,” he added.

He said that the government “agreed in the procurement contract of the vaccine to indemnify AstraZeneca against any liability of this kind, so we ask the government to do the right thing and to support people who were vaccinated and help them cope with the devastating consequence of their life changing injuries.”

“Strict time limits apply to such claims so anyone who thinks they may have been affected in a similar way should get in touch,” he added.

The UK became the first country in the world to approve the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in 2020. The vaccine is now known as Vaxzevria.

In the UK, the Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been approved for use. All three have legal indemnity protecting the companies from being sued for damages.

The Epoch Times understands that the only way to hold a vaccine manufacturer to account as an injured party is under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The details of indemnity that the vaccine manufacturers have with the government are unknown.

Vaccine Damage Payment

The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) is a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000 if someone is proven to have been severely disabled or has died as a result of vaccination from diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), swine flu, and more.

In December 2020, ministers agreed to add COVID-19 to the scheme to demonstrate “government confidence in the safety profile” of any vaccine being used in the programme.

One in 20 claims made to the UK vaccine injury scheme are successful in the case of COVID-19 jabs, according to data obtained by Freedom of Information requests in March.

According to responses, 44 claimants have been notified they are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment, which means over £5 million has so far been paid out.

Claims are handled by the National Health Service Business Services Authority, an arm’s length body of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Both the public and health professionals can report serious vaccine harms to the government’s dedicated Yellow Card Coronavirus reporting site, which was set up in 2020 to monitor the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines. Out of 355,000 reports of “serious” side effects, fewer than 10,000 were reported by medical professionals.

With Yellow Card reporting, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA) says that “conclusions on the safety and risks of the vaccines cannot be made on the data shown in the report alone.”

AstraZeneca

An AstraZeneca spokesman told The Epoch Times by email, “We are unable to comment on ongoing legal matters.”

“Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines. Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has reported health problems,” he added.

“AstraZeneca and regulatory authorities carefully record and assess all reports of potential adverse events associated with use of Vaxzevria. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, Vaxzevria 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,” he said.

The spokesman said that “the MHRA granted conditional marketing approval for Vaxzevria for the UK based on the safety profile and efficacy of the vaccine.”

“Over 3 billion doses of the vaccine have been supplied to more than 180 countries and, according to independent estimates, Vaxzevria helped to save more than 6 million lives worldwide in the first year of availability alone (December 2020 to December 2021),” he added.