A leading vaccine injury campaigner has highlighted the “indescribable trauma” faced by those seeking compensation for Covid vaccine side effects.
Ruth O’Rafferty, co-founder of the Scottish Vaccine Injury Group, told GB News that proving the required 60 per cent permanent disability threshold is “very difficult”.
Her comments come as Health Secretary Wes Streeting has commissioned officials to explore reforms to the vaccine damage payment scheme, including potential legislative changes.
Speaking to GB News, Campaigner and Co-founder of the Scottish Vaccine Injury Group, Ruth O’Rafferty said: “There’s lots of things that need to be changed.
Ruth O’Rafferty is the co-founder of the Scottish Vaccine Injury Group
GB News
“You have to prove that you are 60 per cent disabled and that will be a permanent disability.
“So it’s not enough to just say, it is a very difficult thing to prove. A lot of conditions fluctuate. So you might be 90 per cent one day and 10 per cent the next.”
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She added : “There’s lots of other things that need to be looked at as well. For example, the way that the people are handled. The trauma that this has caused people in our group is, is indescribable.
“When you’re so chronically ill you can hardly string a sentence together. I’m not an example of that because I’ve improved a lot. A year ago, I wouldn’t be able to have this conversation with you.
“So these people are having to fill out complex forms. Gather all their medical data, get all their medical records from hospital, from their GP.
“Then they have to prove that the vaccine caused the damage, which is almost impossible because the vaccine damage payment scheme assessors list, they go down a sort of hierarchy of what they used to assess whether or not you’re eligible.
Wes Streeting said that work was actively progressing “behind the scenes”
GB News
“They look at population level data that includes the yellow card scheme, which is good because people are reporting neurological deficits and things like that.
“Only between 1 and 10 per cent of people actually report to that. Then they look at the green book and all the green books, says that the vaccines cause is myocardial myocardial injury and thrombosis.”
In a letter sent last month to Kate Scott, whose husband suffered permanent brain damage after receiving the AstraZeneca jab, Streeting acknowledged the need for change.
The Health Secretary wrote that while financial support for those harmed by the vaccine was a “complex area”, work was actively progressing “behind the scenes”.
Ruth O’Rafferty suffered a disability from the jab
GB News
The government is reportedly considering establishing a bespoke scheme for those with life-changing vaccine reactions, similar to that created for infected blood scandal victims.
Data reveals that 183 out of 188 government payouts under the vaccine damage payment scheme went to AstraZeneca vaccine recipients, according to figures obtained through Freedom of Information requests.
The statistics, as of October last year, also show that 391 people injured by Covid vaccines were denied payments despite medical assessors linking their harm to the jabs.
These individuals failed to meet the scheme’s 60 per cent disability threshold requirement.
