if it causes long term damage don't expect a huge payout
The UK has become the first western country to license a vaccine against Covid, green-lighting mass immunisation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine to begin next week.
The vaccine has been authorised for 'emergency use' by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) even before decisions by the US and Europe have been made. The MHRA was given power to approve the vaccine by the government under special regulations before 1 January, when it will become fully responsible for medicines authorisation in the UK after Brexit.
"The first doses of the vaccine will arrive in the coming days" said the company. The UK has bought 40 million doses of the vaccine, which the company claim, has shown to have 95% efficacy in its final trials. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “The government has today accepted the recommendation from the MHRA to approve Pfizer/BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine for use."
A vaccine has never been created with such speed before. Vaccines normally take years, or even decades to develop, and, in some cases, are never achieved. The SARS virus (another mass-extinction virus according to Neil Ferguson remember) some 15 years on from its emergence still has no vaccine. But, the experts assure us, this vaccine is perfectly safe, and has been through ‘rigorous testing’.
This testing cannot, of course, include any long-term data, given that the vaccine has only been developed in a matter of weeks, so Pfizer insisted that the government gave them indemnity against any possible long-term damage their vaccine could cause. The manufacturer maintaining they should not be held financially accountable for any consequences from a vaccine reaction, with the taxpayer footing the bill of any future compensation claims and not Pfizer’s shareholders.
The UK government have published their Vaccine Damage Payment scheme in preparation and it makes for some alarming reading, firstly it states; if you’re severely disabled as a result of a vaccination, you could 'get a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000'. This sum would, in no way, enable anyone to live the rest of their life were they severely disabled, as thalidomide victims would testify, but the government goes on to say: this payment may ('will' as otherwise why mention it?) effect on benefits you receive:
A Vaccine Damage Payment can affect benefits and entitlements like:
Income Support
Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
Working Tax Credit
Child Tax Credit
Universal Credit
Pension Credit
Housing Benefit
Council Tax Reduction
Employment and Support Allowance
The government would give a insufficient amount of compensation and remove any other payouts that the victim may receive, rendering any real support for potential victims without any real-terms compensation. But it's ok, big pharma shareholder dividends are unaffected.