More than 80 lawsuits in the UK claim AstraZeneca COVID vaccine caused deaths and serious injuries

Two lawsuits working their way through the British court system could determine the fate of a class action brought against AstraZeneca by more than 80 people who claim that they or a family member have been injured by the pharmaceutical company’s COVID-19 vaccine.
The two lawsuits are being treated as test cases for the larger class action.
One of the test cases was filed in Britain’s High Court by Jamie Scott, a father of two who suffered permanent brain damage as a result of blood clots caused by the vaccine in April 2021.
The Telegraph, which reported on the Scott case on Wednesday, noted that the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was “labelled as ‘defective’,” and the case “will suggest that claims about its efficacy were ‘greatly overstated’.”
The second test case was filed by the widower of 35-year-old Alpa Tailor, who died after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
These “are the first lawsuits filed in England and Wales over an adverse reaction to a COVID-19 vaccine according to publicly available court records,” reported Reuters.
According to The Telegraph, “the test cases could pave the way for as many as 80 compensation claims worth an estimated £80 million [$98.3 million] over a new condition known as vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT), which was identified by specialists in the wake of the rollout of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.”
Alex Mitchell welcomed the news that the lawsuits are proceeding. He received his first and only dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on 20 March 2021. He collapsed at home just a few weeks later, on 4 April. Today he is an amputee and suffers from VITT.
“As one of the participants in one of the British class actions, I can say that it has been almost three years of waiting for a day like this to finally begin,” he told The Defender.
“I was initially given no hope of surviving when I collapsed on 4 April 2021 and spent seven and a half hours in an operation that I was not expected to survive,” Mitchell told The Defender. “I then spent a week in isolation before being amputated above the knee on 11 April 2021. I have brain damage and vision problems among other symptoms from VITT.”
The 80 plaintiffs joined forces to form the VITT Litigation Group and have launched a crowdfunding campaign that says “AstraZeneca cannot continue to ignore the circumstances in which their vaccine has caused devastating damage and loss. Our legal case will seek to hold AstraZeneca accountable.”
“The claims follow a two-pronged strategy: taking legal action under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 as well as claiming payment under the state-run Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme,” which is limited to payouts of £120,000 ($147,000) each. The Telegraph reported.
“Payment under the scheme does not preclude a claim for personal injury in the courts. Those who proceed under the Consumer Protection Act must show that the vaccine was not as safe as the public was entitled to expect.”
“Life with VITT is a life of not knowing what is going to happen to me, as they can only keep my blood stable at the present time and so far are unable to reverse the PF4 [anti-platelet factor 4] antibody,” Mitchell, now 59 years old, said.
“My day-to-day tries to heal what can be healed and manage how I feel. Mental health is a big problem, and now having PTSD unfortunately doesn’t help,” he added.
The Telegraph cited figures from the United Kingdom’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency showing that at least 81 British deaths “were suspected to have been linked to the side effect that caused clotting in people who also had low platelets.” Almost 1 in 5 people who suffered from the condition died as a result, according to the same data.
On 6 March, the United Kingdom’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme had received 4,017 COVID-19 vaccine injuries, of which 622 were related to the AstraZeneca vaccine, according to data cited by The BMJ.
Dr Joel Wallskog is an orthopaedic surgeon in Wisconsin who no longer practises as a result of injuries he sustained from the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Today he is co-chair of REACT19, a non-profit advocacy group representing victims of vaccine injuries.
Wallskog told The Defender that he welcomed the AstraZeneca cases:
“I feel for the plaintiffs who were seriously and permanently injured after their COVID-19 shots. I am cautiously optimistic that such lawsuits in some countries will result in greater societal awareness of the shot injuries and pressure on their elected representatives to provide fair and just compensation.”
REACT19’s other co-founder, Brianne Dressen, who was injured by the AstraZeneca vaccine she received during a clinical trial, said: “These cases are an important step in shedding light on the serious human impact of the poor management of vaccine injuries.”
Dressen is now part of two lawsuits connected to her vaccine injuries, which she said both “sit in a federal court.” The legal developments in the United Kingdom “unfortunately do not affect my lawsuits, but I am very encouraged to see my other AstraZeneca-injured colleagues seeking justice,” she said, adding:
“We shouldn’t have to sue. If the system worked as it should, we would be taken care of and would not be forced to seek justice through the courts. American protections are the gold standard for pharmaceutical companies — some of the worst globally for consumer protection because of the PREP [Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness] Act.”
Pierre Kory, MD, MPA, president and chief medical officer of the Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, shared a more optimistic view and told The Defender: “This case could be the first of many that can influence American justice, which moves slowly but appears to be moving in the right direction.”
Kory also expressed his “hope that the outcome of this case signals a change for the millions of people suffering after COVID-19 vaccination. There is no substitute for your health, but I expect this case to set a precedent that will allow the vaccine-injured to receive justice for their suffering.”
Charlene Bollinger, founder and CEO of The Truth About Vaccines and The Truth About Cancer, also welcomed the news.
“The dam of lies is finally breaking, and justice will finally be served to those who committed these crimes against humanity,” said Bollinger. “But unfortunately so many innocent people have had to pay the price with their lives before the truth reached the High Court.”
Cardiologist Dr Peter McCullough has been outspoken in his criticism of the COVID-19 vaccines. He told The Defender:
“The AstraZeneca/Oxford and Janssen [Johnson & Johnson] vaccines are manufactured by the same biodefense contractor, Emergent Biosolutions. These are both adenoviral DNA vaccines that deliver the gene coding for the potentially deadly SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into the human body.
“There is no control over the amount and duration of the spike protein. The side-effect profile, including non-fatal and fatal serious adverse events, is similar for the adenoviral DNA and mRNA COVID-19 vaccines.”
Jamie Scott filed a product liability claim against AstraZeneca on 21 August after being diagnosed with VITT, Reuters reported in August.
According to The Telegraph, Scott, who was 44 years old at the time, “nearly died after receiving the vaccine.” He “suffered a catastrophic brain bleed, and doctors called his wife, Kate, three times to tell her to come to the hospital to say goodbye to him.”
According to the VITT Litigation Group, “Before his vaccination, Jamie was a hands-on father of two young boys, a wonderful husband to his wife Kate and a high-functioning IT specialist who earned a good salary for his family.”
“Within a few days of receiving his AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccination, he developed multiple blood clots, resulting in permanent and disabling brain damage,” confirmed to have been “caused by the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine,” the group added.
The Telegraph reported that Scott’s lawyers claimed he suffered “personal injury and consequential loss” as a result of VITT. His legal claim alleges that the vaccine was “defective” and asserts that the vaccine’s product information contained no warning of the risk of VITT.
Scott’s wife, Kate Scott, told The Telegraph: “We can’t stand the injustice of it. We have lobbied the government for 18 months for fair compensation for the damage caused by the vaccine.”
“We were told by the government that the vaccine was safe and effective, but what has happened to Jamie has been life-changing, and their [AstraZeneca] vaccine caused it,” she added.
In a statement shared by the VITT Litigation Group, Kate Scott said: “Because of the inadequacy of the government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme and AstraZeneca’s unwillingness even to talk to us, let alone to resolve these claims without a fight, our group has no choice but to seek compensation through the courts,” she said.
“Those suffering from VITT injuries or deaths have not been recognised or offered adequate compensation by AstraZeneca or by the British government that urged us all to come forward for vaccination,” she added.
“It is understood that AstraZeneca in its legal response denies having caused Mr Scott’s injuries,” The Telegraph reported.
Such denials come as no surprise to Mitchell, who told The Defender that “Given AstraZeneca’s behaviour as a company so far and their own past as one of the most fined companies in history, I expect nothing less of them.”
AstraZeneca vaccine allegedly used ‘risky’ technology
The second test case in the British High Court concerns the death of Alpa Tailor, who died in April 2021, less than a month after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. According to The Telegraph, “An inquest in September 2021 established that she died of blood clots and a brain haemorrhage” caused by VITT.
Her husband, Anish Tailor, filed the case on 4 August, Reuters reported. Also filed as a product liability claim under the Consumer Protection Act, the lawsuit seeks compensation of up to £5 million ($6.14 million), according to The Telegraph.
On its website, the VITT Litigation Group highlights the stories of several other plaintiffs who are part of the ongoing class action against AstraZeneca.
Lisa Shaw was a BBC radio journalist, wife and mother. She received the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine in April 2021, and “Shortly afterwards she died due to blood clots that developed in her brain.” Her death certificate confirmed that her death was the result of complications from her vaccination.
Her husband, Gareth Eve, told the VITT Litigation Group:
“My son Zach (8 years old) and I live with the loss of Lisa every single day. Our house is a quiet place now. Days don’t have the same glow. Grief casts a long shadow over everything. The hole left in our lives is enormous. Losing a spouse turns life upside down. Everything changes. It shouldn’t be like this.”
Jane Wrigley was diagnosed with cerebral venous sinus thrombosis on 30 March 2021 “and underwent emergency surgery to evacuate multiple blood clots.” Clinicians attributed these blood clots to “VITT caused by the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
“Jane was a very active and supportive grandmother. She enjoyed running and outdoor activities, which are unfortunately now very limited,” the VITT Litigation Group wrote, adding that Jane can no longer look after herself and has extremely limited mobility.
Ben Hollobone was 37 years old and in good health when he received his AstraZeneca vaccine — but 17 days later “he died alone in hospital.” Hollobone’s death certificate confirmed that his cause of death was VITT.
Daniel Harris, father of a 2-year-old boy, died at the age of 32, even though he had previously been “a fit and healthy young man.” According to an inquest, the VITT Litigation Group wrote, “his cause of death was a stroke from a right brain haemorrhage and vaccine-associated thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, a side effect of the COVID-19 vaccine.”
At the age of 32, Dr Stephen Wright was a senior clinical psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital in the United Kingdom and ran his own private practice. According to the BBC, Wright, who was the father of two young sons, died in January 2021, 10 days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.
His wife, Charlotte Wright, told the VITT Litigation Group: “Stephen’s loss has had a devastating impact on us as a whole family; emotionally and financially. My sons have to grow up without their father from a very young age, which has had a profound impact on their lives and development, and the long-term effect is unimaginable.”
“We continue to suffer from emotional trauma, fighting to be heard, and for the vaccinated and bereaved families finally to get justice,” she added.
Neil Miller, a father of two, died on 1 May 2021 at the age of 50 due to complications of the AstraZeneca vaccine. In May, his wife, Kam Miller, told the Daily Mail that she received zero compensation or support from the British government, leaving her struggling with her mental health and forcing her to sell her family’s home.
Peter Todd, a lawyer at Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, a law firm handling claims from AstraZeneca vaccine victims, told The BMJ that his clients’ complications “included strokes, heart failure and leg amputations.” He also described the technology used by the AstraZeneca vaccine as “risky.”
Sarah Moore, a partner at Hausfeld, another law firm representing many of the victims and their families, wrote in The Telegraph: “It is clearly factually inaccurate to claim that vaccines do not harm given our client group’s experiences.”
“By starting a legal battle against AstraZeneca, the vaccine-injured and bereaved will use the law to seek accountability and compensation for the deaths of their loved ones and the life-changing injuries that many in the group have suffered,” Moore added.
Moore previously told The BMJ that the £120,000 payment offered to victims of vaccine injury in the United Kingdom was “nothing,” as “many were parents and many were carers.”
The Telegraph cited official British government figures obtained via a freedom of information request showing that the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme has made 148 payments — of which “at least 144 went to recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine.”
Mitchell said that he is “the first living person to have been awarded under the United Kingdom’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.” He described the experience of navigating this programme as “horrific and inhumane” and said that it “requires a complete overhaul that would prevent ordinary people from having to litigate.”
Was the British government aware of AstraZeneca vaccine risks?
According to The Telegraph, the lawsuits “will raise questions about what the British authorities knew about concerns over the vaccine and how they were handled.”
The Telegraph quoted a statement from Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University and former adviser to the United Kingdom’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, who said: “It is an asteroid-like risk from the AstraZeneca vaccine. There is a risk of being hit by an asteroid, but it is not very large.”
The Telegraph also cited revelations from the “Lockdown Files,” now being examined by the United Kingdom’s Covid-19 Inquiry, indicating that the British government was aware of problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine just “a few weeks after the vaccine’s rollout.”
One document revealed that Bell told a health official that AstraZeneca “misjudged some things such as data from clinical trials and manufacturing.”
Nevertheless, the then British Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the British Parliament in January 2021 about the AstraZeneca vaccine: “I would like to emphasise that the data so far on this vaccine suggests that there will be no side effects and therefore no liability.” — a claim now referenced by lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the cases against AstraZeneca.
Hancock sought an indemnity for AstraZeneca, according to The Telegraph, in “highly unexpected cases of side effects that could not have been foreseen through the robust controls and procedures that have been put in place.”
The BMJ says this legal protection is in place and writes that “Although the legal claim is against AstraZeneca, the British taxpayer will have to pay any compensation awarded under a legal indemnity that the government gave the company early in the pandemic.”
Behind every statistic, ‘there is a family or a human being going through hell’
At the end of 2020, Boris Johnson, then British Prime Minister, called the vaccine a “triumph for British science.” But according to The Telegraph, “In the months after the rollout, the serious side effect of the AstraZeneca jab was identified by scientists.”
Nevertheless, The Telegraph also reported that “Independent studies show that the AstraZeneca vaccine was incredibly effective in tackling the pandemic and saved more than six million lives globally in the first year of the rollout.”
But according to The BMJ, the United Kingdom’s Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency found a possible link between the vaccine and VITT in 2021.
In April 2021, the United Kingdom stopped administering the vaccine to those under 30, and the following month stopped administration to those under 40, The Telegraph reported.
In March 2021, Germany stopped administering the AstraZeneca vaccine to people under 60 over the risk of “rare blood clots,” while the following month Denmark withdrew the vaccine solely because of the blood-clot connection.
Also in March 2021, the U.S. Data and Safety Monitoring Board suggested that AstraZeneca may have provided “outdated information” to U.S. authorities, which gave “an incomplete view” of the results of its clinical trials.
Despite these known dangers, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in December 2021 that the AstraZeneca vaccine was “excellent,” adding that “there is no indication not to use it.” The WHO repeated these claims in June 2022, saying that the AstraZeneca vaccine is “safe and effective for all persons aged 18 years and over.”
Nevertheless, in July 2022, the United Kingdom’s Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority ruled that AstraZeneca had breached its code by repeatedly referring to the COVID-19 vaccine as “safe” in a December 2020 press release, and that its claims “were based on relative risk reduction … and not absolute risk reduction … which was a much smaller number.”
The AstraZeneca vaccine was never offered publicly in the United States, and today it is no longer administered in the United Kingdom.
In response to the ongoing litigation, AstraZeneca told The Telegraph in a statement: “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 sympathies go out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.”
“From the evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, Vaxzevria [the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine] has consistently 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,” the company added.
Wallskog told The Defender that “The incidence of adverse events is unknown due to the lack of studies and transparency regarding adverse events,” while Dressen said: “AstraZeneca should be withdrawn from global markets. Even in clinical trials it had a rate of serious adverse events 2.5 times higher than all the other vaccines.”
Mitchell, who appeared in the documentary “Safe and Effective: A Second Opinion,” said that he “set out two and a half years ago to raise awareness of VITT and the lack of help and support,” adding: “Behind every statistic and piece of data you read, please remember that there is a family or a human being going through hell.”