The benefits of Covid-19 vaccines in the UK far outweigh the risks of serious side effects, according to experts. While there is no denying that getting vaccinated comes with a certain degree of risk, most people experience only mild and short-lived side effects such as sore arms, fever, and fatigue. Even in the rare event that something serious does go wrong, the benefits of the vaccination program still outweigh the potential negative effects.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which has been credited with saving more than 6.3 million lives globally in its first year of use, has been criticised by some of the tiny minority who were injured or bereaved by it. Around 50 families whose rare blood clots are thought to be caused by the vaccine are seeking compensation under the Consumer Protection Act, arguing that the vaccine was not as safe as the public were led to believe.
Almost 25 million adults in the UK received a first dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine in 2021, with the vast majority receiving a second dose as well. Despite this, the side effects of vaccination are usually mild and short-lived, while the Covid vaccine program is estimated to have prevented over a quarter of a million hospital admissions and over 120,000 deaths by September 2021.
However, in the event that something does go seriously wrong with a vaccine, there is a kind of social contract between individual and state whereby we have the right to expect that we will be supported. That’s where the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) comes in. The VDPS was established in 1979 to provide a one-off financial payment of £120,000 in the event that a vaccine causes at least 60% disablement.
Since the pandemic began, the government granted vaccine manufacturers legal indemnity, leaving it responsible for paying compensation in the event of a successful claim. While the vaccines have been highly successful, the VDPS has faced criticism for providing too little, too late, to too few people. There have been more than double the number of claims under the VDPS for Covid vaccines than for all other vaccines combined between the late 1970s and
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