There have been 51 related lawsuits
In the global fight against the new coronavirus, the development and promotion of vaccines has always been the core task of the scientific and technological frontier. However, with the widespread vaccination of vaccination, some rare but serious side effects have gradually surfaced.
According to the latest news broke by major media today, British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca (AstraZeneca) admitted for the first time in court documents that the new crown vaccine jointly developed with the University of Oxford may cause a rare side effect called thrombosis and thrombocytopenia syndrome (TTS).
According to data compiled by the UK Medicines Regulatory Agency (MHRA), at least 81 Britons have died from suspected vaccine-related thrombotic complications!
The release of the court documents not only marks AstraZeneca's public acknowledgment of the possible health risks posed by the vaccine, but could also lead to a billion-pound class action lawsuit against the company.
According to reports, 51 related lawsuits have now been filed in the High Court of London, with damages totalling potentially as high as £125 million.
Jamie Scott, an IT engineer who suffered serious health problems shortly after vaccination, is one of the plaintiffs in these cases.
Scott, a father of two, suffered serious health problems, including bleeding and blood clots, which eventually led to permanent brain damage, shortly after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine in April 2021.
In the hospital, Scott fell into a coma and struggled for more than a month. Although he eventually survived, he suffered permanent brain damage. Scott now has a poor memory, difficulty reading, writing, listening, speaking, and partially losing sight in both eyes.
Now Scott is no longer able to continue his previous profession, and many activities in his daily life have become extremely difficult. His life has been turned upside down, he used to be an energetic dad, but now he has become a person who battles pain and fatigue every day.
Scott's wife, Kate, expressed her disappointment and anger at AstraZeneca. She stressed that they need more than a simple apology and compensation, and more importantly, hopes that such incidents will attract enough attention to prevent similar situations from happening in the future.
Kate's voice represents the voice of many affected families who, after experiencing a personal tragedy, are more likely to seek justice and change through legal means.
At the same time, AstraZeneca expressed sympathy for all those who suffer from health problems as a result of the vaccine, but also stressed that its vaccines are generally safe based on extensive clinical trials and real-world use data.
The company also noted that regulators around the world generally believe that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the extremely rare risks it may pose. AstraZeneca also said its vaccines have saved about 6 million lives globally.
There are many similar cases. Let's say BBC Radio Newcastle's award-winning radio presenter, Lisa Shaw, died in May 2021 after suffering a brain haemorrhage after vaccination, leaving behind her six-year-old son, Zach.
The father of two, 31-year-old Tom Dudley, who had no underlying health problems before, received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine near his home on April 27, 2021, and then developed headaches and brain haemorrhages and passed away shortly after.
There are countless examples of how everyone has had a good life, but everything came to an abrupt end because of the vaccine. According to the UK's Medicines Regulator, at least 81 people have died from thrombotic complications associated with the vaccine in 50 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccination.
AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine was first approved for emergency vaccination in December 2020. According to calculations, the chance of developing TTS in a person who receives the vaccine is about 1 in 50,000.
However, it is important to note that the cause of these adverse reactions has not yet been fully identified. AstraZeneca explained in court documents that the trigger for TTS symptoms in a small number of people is not yet clear and "can also occur in people who are not associated with any vaccine". The company asserted that the causal relationship in specific cases would need to be assessed by experts before being determined.
There's no denying that COVID vaccines have played a key role in the fight against the global pandemic. Many of the plaintiffs' families have also acknowledged this, not because they are against the vaccine itself, but because they expect to receive the explanations and compensation they deserve.
Faced with potentially huge claims, AstraZeneca is clearly interested in turning to legal action. This step more or less means that the drugmaker no longer intends to shy away from the storm of vaccine side effects, as it did at the beginning.