Legal experts believe that a document that was distributed to vaccination centers could protect the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca from lawsuits filed by families whose relatives were vaccinated after April 7, 2021, according to news.yahoo.
The company AstraZeneca denies the accusations related to the anti-Covid vaccine, archive photo
In fact, several families in Great Britain who lost loved ones after vaccination with the anti-Covid serum produced by AstraZeneca have given up trying to sue the pharmaceutical giant. Gareth Eve and other families whose relatives suffered after receiving the vaccine dropped their High Court case after being told they were unlikely to win because a leaflet published amid the pandemic warned of a side effect rarely associated with the vaccine.
The document, distributed at the vaccination centers, said that “extremely rare cases of blood clots with low platelet levels have been observed following vaccination with AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.”
So far, a total of 12 families have dropped their legal action. However, more than 50 are still suing the pharmaceutical giant in the High Court because their vaccines were supplied before the blood clot warning was added to patient safety leaflets.
Gareth Eve, whose wife Lisa Shaw died in May 2021 after having the vaccine, said he found it “unfair” that families like his could not continue. After dropping his compensation claim against AstraZeneca, he said the £120,000 compensation offered by the government was insufficient and called on ministers and the pharmaceutical company to “sit down at the table and have a discussion” with families like his.
“AstraZeneca and the Government may not have a legal obligation to support us, but they do have a moral responsibility,” he said.
Gareth's wife Eve was 44 when she died and the couple's son Zach was just six. A coroner ruled that she died of complications from AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine.
Mr Eve applied for and received financial support under the Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme (VDPS), which allows people who have been seriously affected or the families of those who have died to receive a one-off payment of £120,000, but said that in his opinion, this system “not fit for purpose” and must be reformed.
He said he feels like the pharmaceutical company “responsibility passes” if he is going to defend this claim by saying that patients were warned in the information leaflets. “Zach will have to grow up for the rest of his life without a mother,” he said.
“I understand some of the terminology in the documents that have been released, because these are the things that killed Lisa. But if I had been seated in a vaccination center and walked through a room with dozens of other people, I would have had no idea what they were talking about. (…) The strongest voice in the room at that time was from the Government, which said to get vaccinated. “Do your part”. Lisa just did what she was asked to do,” he stated.
“It could have been any of us”
Independent studies show that AstraZeneca's vaccine has been effective in fighting the pandemic, saving more than six million lives worldwide in the first year since its launch.
The World Health Organization has stated that the vaccine is “safe and effective for all people over the age of 18”, and the adverse effect which led to the legal action was “rarely”.
The pharmaceutical giant has been sued in a class action over allegations that its vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, has caused death and serious injury in dozens of cases.
While lawyers say the vaccine produced a side effect that had a devastating effect on some families, AstraZeneca disputes those claims and the British government has indemnified the company against any legal action, but has so far declined to intervene.
The first complaint against AstraZeneca came from the family of Jamie Scott, who, following the vaccine administered in April 2021, was left with permanent brain damage after developing a blood clot and a brain haemorrhage. This week his wife Kate said: “It could have been any of us. We will continue to fight to ensure that every family, regardless of when the vaccine caused death and injury, gets justice.”
For its part, the AstraZeneca company stated: “We express our condolences to all those who have lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority and regulators have clear and strict standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.”
“From the body of evidence from clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has been consistently shown to have an acceptable safety profile, and regulatory authorities around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of potential side effects extremely rare secondaries”, the pharmaceutical giant also specified.
