Will be paid damages after AstraZeneca vaccination
Three individuals have been granted damages from The Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation due to serious side effects experienced after vaccination with the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.
One of the cases concerns a woman in her 40s who died in March. The woman was prioritized in the Norwegian vaccination programme due to her position as health personnel. She left behind a husband and children, the Norwegian broadcaster NRK writes.
In the two other cases the patients survived – one female health care worker and a man, both in their 30s.
These are the first three individuals in Norway to be granted damages in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic in Norway.
All three of them had taken the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was halted in Norway on March 11 due to serious side effects of blood clots, bleedings and low levels of platelets. Norwegian doctors were among the first in the world to establish that there was a connection between these side effects and the AstraZenca vaccine.
Urges others to get vaccinated
The two patients who survived have given anonymous statements via a press release from The Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation (NPE).
“I was admitted to hospital with great pains. It was scary to follow the news of others who had recently died from the same vaccine that I had been given”, the man says on the phone from Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet.
“I had a serious cerebral hemorrhage and blood clot. At the hospital I received phone calls from friends and family who wanted to know if I was still alive”, the woman says.
Both the man and the woman are still on sick leave and suffering from the effects of the illness. They do not know how long these ailments will last, NPE writes in the press release.
The two however both stress that they believe people should continue to get vaccinated and follow the recommendations of the health authorities.
The vaccine was the cause
Director of The Norwegian System of Patient Injury Compensation, Rolf Gunnar Jørstad, states in the press release that the reason these three have been awarded damages is that the vaccine was the cause of the serious side effects.
“We have solid medical information in these three cases, among others from the research material that Rikshospitalet (Oslo University Hospital) has collected on these very special immune reactions”, Jørstad says in the press release.
The amount that will be paid in damages is not yet decided.
77 applications for damages so far
The Patient Injury Compensation System has received 77 applications for damages due to various corona vaccinations:
- 53 AstraZeneca
- 11 Pfizer
- 6 Moderna
- 7 cases are unclear
The most common side effects that are described in the complaints are dizziness, fatigue, headache and pain. Others tell of ulcers, cramps, rashes, spasms, becoming paralyzed, anaphylactic reactions, blood clots and low levels of platelets.
Eight of the 77 cases concern deaths. Four of these received AstraZeneca, one Moderna, two Pfizer and one case is unclear.
Strong legal protection
Four people have died in Norway following vaccination with AstraZeneca. Sciencenorway.no has also previously written about some very frail elderly people who may have died earlier than expected as a consequence of common side effects from vaccination.
NRK have spoken to a lawyer who represents several of the patients, among other the family of the woman who died. Therese Lohne Boehlke from the law firm Ness Lundin says to nrk that the demands for damages are a question of financial security for the family. She also says that the law firm is contacted by quite a few people who wonder how they should proceed in order to demand damages.
According to Boehlke the threshold is supposed to be fairly low when it comes to evidence that there is a connection between the vaccine and the side effects.
“Because we want a high uptake of the vaccines it is said that those who do experience a side effect or ailments after a vaccination have strong legal protection”, she says to NRK.
Jørstad from the Patient Injury Compensation System assures that they are working as fast as possible in order to resolve and answer all the applications for damages.
