Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Covid-19

Martyn Day Excerpts

Tuesday 6th September 2022 Westminster Hall

[Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)]

I thank the right hon. and learned Member for Kenilworth and Southam (Sir Jeremy Wright) for securing today’s important debate on covid vaccines and the vaccine damage payment scheme, and also for the manner in which he presented the case. I think we can all agree that it is vital that those with genuine claims are supported, and that spurious anti-vax conspiracists are not allowed to undermine legitimate claims.

It is clear that it is beyond time for the UK Government to review the compensation scheme. Although the vast majority of vaccinations do not cause serious side effects, in a tiny number of incidents there have been and will be serious side effects. Any medicine, even an over-the-counter medicine, is capable of having seriously detrimental side effects. It is a tragic reality that, although vaccination is the right course of action, and the risk of harm from coronavirus far outweighs the risk of harm from the vaccines, some people will have serious side effects, including disablement and death.

The first payment under the compensation scheme in the UK has been handed out, to a bereaved individual whose partner lost their life as a consequence of the AstraZeneca vaccination. There are serious, valid claims of harm, and they must be respected and listened to. That is also vital to maintaining faith in the UK’s vaccination programme, both now and in the future. As those claiming make clear, making claims is not about being anti-vaccine.

Anti-vaxxers have attempted, however, to abuse the scheme and undermine the delivery of compensation. At one point, it was claimed that the compensation scheme was for anyone who was not made fully aware of the health risks of the vaccine. Such actions are designed to overwhelm the system, making it harder for people with legitimate claims to be heard, which ultimately undermines faith in the system. They promote the unfounded claim that the extremely unlikely consequences of the vaccine were hidden. Similar actions were seen in America, where there were many spurious claims for compensation, including on the basis of having a sore arm after vaccination. That was the only symptom that I had, and it was similar for many of my friends; it was a regularly experienced side effect, as we know.

We must support those with valid claims, while ensuring that anti-vaxxers do not hijack the scheme for their propaganda purposes. As I stated earlier, it is beyond time for the UK Government to review the compensation scheme.

[Sir Jeremy Wright]

I understand exactly the point that the hon. Gentleman is making. Would he agree that the best gift that we could give to the anti-vaxxers would be to allow them to say that people injured by the vaccine will receive no compensation and no help from the Government?

[Martyn Day]

I absolutely agree. MPs have warned since 2015, before I was in Parliament, that the system is out of date and in need of review. Payment levels under the scheme were set in 2010, and have not been reviewed since. Lawyers specialising in vaccine injury cases have criticised the 60% disablement criterion as out of date and as not reflecting the reality of some consequences of covid and the covid vaccinations.

In the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic and the largest mass vaccination programme in the history of the United Kingdom, it is well beyond time that the vaccination compensation scheme is reviewed. This is made even more necessary in the face of the spiralling cost of living crisis, with those who have been disabled or bereaved by vaccine injury facing higher costs and lower incomes. In conclusion, the SNP calls on the UK Government to deliver an uplift to the compensation quantity and to ensure that no legitimate cases are being denied rightful compensation.