A woman has become the first person to have been successfully awarded compensation over a Covid-19 vaccine after her fiancé tragically died after receiving the AstraZeneca jab.
Vikki Spit's fiancée, Zion, 48, from Alston, near the Northumberland - Cumbria border, fell ill on May 13, 2021, eight days after he received the AstraZeneca vaccine. Despite the window for a blood clot being 4 to 28 days post-vaccination, Vikki said paramedics did not recognise that Zion's headache symptoms could be linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine.
Consequently, Zion did not receive the appropriate tests and treatment and tragically died at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary. Following a long legal battle, Vikki has been awarded the fixed compensation amount of £120,000 under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme 1979 in relation to a Covid-19 vaccine.
While doctors very quickly realised that Zion’s death was due to a complication of the vaccine, which was later confirmed by his death certificate, the NHS Business Services Authority (the administrators of the compensation scheme) only accepted this cause of death over a year later, on Friday, June 17, 2022. The length of time taken to process the application has meant that Vikki has had to incur numerous debts during the interim period as she struggled without Zion’s earnings.
As a result, Vikki is now calling on the government to increase the maximum compensation amount in order to better reflect current conditions and represent the loss of earnings that a person in their forties would have made before their retirement. The maximum figure for compensation (£120,000) has failed to keep pace with inflation. The figure was set at £10,000 in 1979, when legislation was passed, which equates to roughly £180,000 now.