Thousands of Britons left ‘permanently disabled’ by the AstraZeneca Covid jab could get payouts in compensation system overhaul

It has emerged that compensation for the Covid vaccine can be given to thousands who have been ‘disabled’ by the AstraZeneca jab.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is said to be considering plans to set up a program for people suffering life-changing conditions as a result of the Covid jab.

There are concerns that the existing government-funded Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) is struggling to cope with an overwhelming number of people claiming to suffer side effects from the jab.

Campaigners from the Vaccine Bereaved and Injured UK group claim the VDPS is no longer fit for purpose, and officials are thought to be investigating whether the plan needs to be reformed or revised.

Some of the families represented by the group are involved in legal action against AstraZeneca, which admitted in court documents earlier this year that its Covid vaccine can “in very rare cases” cause a side effect leading to blood clots and low platelet counts.

The pharmaceutical company is being sued in a class action over claims that the jab, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, caused death or serious injury in dozens of cases.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is said to be considering plans to set up a program for people suffering life-changing conditions as a result of the Covid jab

The pharmaceutical company is being sued in a class action over claims that the jab, developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford, caused death or serious injury in dozens of cases.

Shadow Attorney-General Sir Jeremy Wright joined campaigners last month at a meeting with Wes Streeting and Andrew Gwynne, a health secretary.

He has planned a follow-up meeting with the Minister of Health in the coming weeks.

“The two options are to reform the VDPS and set up a tailor-made compensation scheme,” he told the newspaper Sunday Telegraph.

‘But it is not an option for the government to bury its head in the sand and do nothing.

‘If you are one of the very small minority of injured people [by the Covid vaccine]do those people have the right to expect that the state will take good care of them; they only did what the state asked of them.”

More than 15,000 people have applied for compensation from the VDPS for alleged damage caused by Covid vaccines, but only 188 have been told that they are entitled to payment.

More than 15,000 people have applied for compensation from the VDPS for alleged damage caused by Covid vaccines

Researchers believe the rare side effect occurs because the modified cold virus lurking in the jab has an adverse effect on platelets in the blood, causing clotting.

Figures show the majority of successful claims relate to the AstraZeneca jab, with fewer than five linked to Pfizer and Moderna.

So far, prizes have been awarded for conditions such as stroke, heart attack, dangerous blood clots, inflammation of the spinal cord, excessive swelling of the vaccinated limb and facial paralysis.

The VDPS is awarding a one-off tax-free benefit of £120,000 to people who have been seriously injured, and to the families of those who have died as a result of vaccination against certain diseases, including Covid.

To qualify, individuals must be 60 percent disabled.