by “So far, no causal link between the presented health damage and vaccination can be proven in any of the cases examined.”
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, scientists have been talking about when we would learn to live with it.
Today, Covid-19, which has killed an estimated 6.9 million people worldwide, locked 6 out of 10 citizens in repeated long-term quarantines and led to the administration of 13 billion doses of vaccines, is always among us, but without falling into our everyday life.
The latest important related development is that on July 7, Germany will take revenge on the first lawsuits filed by people who claim to have health problems after being vaccinated against the infection caused by the coronavirus. So wrote Deutsche Welle in an article today, noting that while such reports were previously categorically dismissed, they are now taken seriously.
The first trial
The first trial, which was scheduled for the end of April, but postponed to July 7, 2023, concerns the lawsuits of a 3-digit number of people directed against the company Biontech claiming damages for moral and physical harm. The same liability rules apply to coronavirus vaccines in Germany as to other medicines.
The crux of the matter is causation: can an injury be causally attributed to vaccination? Biontech’s response, according to DW, is that “so far no causal link between the presented health damages and the vaccination can be proven in any of the cases examined.”
The Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI), which is responsible for vaccine safety, considers a “vaccine complication” to be an adverse reaction that occurs after vaccination, which, on the one hand, may be causally related to vaccination and, on the other hand, goes beyond reaction symptoms.
“Vaccine damage” in the narrowest sense refers to the “health and economic consequences” of this complication.
The side effects
“Serious side effects” are legally defined as vaccine effects “that are fatal or life-threatening, require hospitalization or prolonged hospitalization, result in permanent or severe disability, incapacity, and birth defects or birth defects.”
Among these are 1) cardiac myopericarditis, possible blood clots in the brain or elsewhere, facial paralysis, Guillain-Barré syndrome and hearing impairment. According to PEI data, all are either “rare” (one case per 1,000 to 10,000 vaccinations) or “very rare” (less than one case per 10,000 vaccinations).
There are also 120 cases in which a “probable or possible causal link” between a death and the coronavirus vaccination has been identified, the institute’s latest detailed report says.
However, since the start of vaccination against infection caused by the coronavirus, a total of 183 million vaccinations have been administered in Germany, according to the Robert Koch Institute. The rate of all reports was 1.8 per 1000 vaccine doses. Specifically for serious side effects, however, it was 0.3 reports per 1,000 doses of vaccine.
Applications in Germany and Great Britain
According to a survey by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper, by mid-March 2023, 6,600 claims for retirement benefits due to damage from the coronavirus vaccine had been filed in 13 of the 16 federal states. Of these, 284 were accepted.
Health Minister Karl Lauterbach has promised that the state will take care of those who have suffered long-term damage from infection or vaccination against the coronavirus. Lauterbach announced in March on ZDF’s “heute journal” program that a program would be created to investigate the effects of Long-Covid and Post-Vac, which concerns effects after vaccination, and improving patient care. patients.
Measures similar to those taken in Germany have already been taken in the UK, by the families of 19 people who died after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine and 54 patients who had significant side effects after receiving it but who survived.
These are people who have suffered post-vaccination thrombotic thrombocytopenia who are seeking personal and lump sum compensation under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), as oxfordmail.co.uk writes.
The legal arguments
Lawyers representing the above argue that the AstraZeneca vaccine “was not as safe as the public had a right to expect” and that the case is not about finding fault “but about the reasonable expectation of safety”.
They specifically claim that citizens who have been vaccinated with the particular formulation have been misled about its safety and effectiveness, so they expect the eventual number of those joining this lawsuit to grow.
It should be noted that the Vaccine Damage Payment scheme received 4,017 claims of which 1,013 were settled out of court, according to inews.co.uk. Of these, 622 relate to AstraZeneca’s vaccine, 348 to Pfizer’s vaccine and 43 to Moderna’s. All relate to disability benefits.
The program provides a tax-free payment of 136,000 euros for those who are considered suitable candidates.
Sarah Moore, a lawyer at law firm Hausfeld, which represents 95 victims, told the Daily Mail: “The vaccination program has been extremely successful and we know that for the vast majority it is also safe. But there is a small group of people for whom it was not safe. And not only did it not save them from the pandemic, but it delivered them into some kind of nightmare.”
Norway and Australia
Norway was the first country to compensate three patients or their relatives, but also the only country to ban AstraZeneca’s vaccine in March 2021. A total of 77 compensation claims related to side effects of the Covid-19 vaccine .
More than 50 have to do with AstraZeneca’s vaccine, while there are also reports from Pfizer and Moderna. Eight of the 77 complaints were for fatal side effects.
Finally, 11,000 claims were filed in Australia, with claims starting at $5,000 for non-fatal incidents. More than 79,000 cases of side effects have been recorded there, including 11,000 serious ones.
Of these, 288 refer to myocarditis and pericarditis from the Pfizer vaccine and 160 to thrombotic syndromes after administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Nine deaths have been recorded in Australia following vaccination.
