Vaccine-injured left with life-changing conditions ‘extremely stigmatised’, Inquiry told

By Storm Newton and Ella Pickover, Reporters21st January 2025News EnglandCoronavirus / Covid-19, Long Term Care / Conditions, Medication / Vaccines, News England, Serious / Significant Case Review / Inquest

People left with life-changing conditions as a result of the side-effects of vaccines rolled out during the pandemic feel “extremely stigmatised”, the Covid-19 Inquiry has heard.

The probe was also told that fewer than 200 claims from an estimated 17,500 have been processed and awarded, under the vaccine damage payment scheme.

Charlet Crichton (pictured), who set up UKCVFamily in 2021, after she herself had an adverse reaction to a Covid-19 vaccination, appeared in front of the Covid-19 Inquiry in London on Tuesday.

Lead counsel Hugo Keith cited a survey of UKCVFamily members, which found 76% had considered suicide because of their conditions.

Ms Crichton said: “It’s an extremely stigmatised illness. No-one wants to hear that you’ve had an adverse reaction to the Covid vaccine.

“It has been extremely traumatic for some people, and in particular, one family whose father died and took his own life.

“We’ve had suicides within the group, and we’ve attended funerals for these people.”

Meanwhile Ms Crichton said that some members who worked in public service, including doctors, nurses and military personnel, felt “heavily pressurised” to be vaccinated.

“When they did, unfortunately, suffer a vaccine injury, their injury wasn’t classed as workplace injury, and subsequently they had their employment terminated,” she said.

When asked about the vaccine damage payment scheme, which awards a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000 to people severely disabled as a result of vaccination against certain diseases, Ms Crichton told the inquiry it “isn’t fulfilling a purpose”.

“Many of our members have tried to claim the vaccine-damage payment and been rejected,” she said.

“There’s been 17,500, claims, and only 194 claims have been processed and awarded. And 416 people were not deemed disabled enough to meet the criteria.

“It isn’t fulfilling a purpose, and it’s very traumatic for someone when they’re very ill, after they’ve done something that they were told to do, or they’ve lost a loved one, to fill out the form.

“The form asks, ‘tell us what happened’, and when I filled mine out I was still very, very poorly in bed, and I filled it out laying down in bed, on my bedside cabinet. And I literally put three sentences.

“I just thought my medical records would speak enough. I thought I wouldn’t have to tell the assessors what happened to me, because they’d look at my medical records and go, yep, adverse reaction. That’s happened. She’s unwell.

“That didn’t happen. I was rejected, along with many other people.”