AstraZeneca has admitted its Covid vaccine caused the condition that killed Gareth’s BBC presenter wife. So why won’t … – Daily Mail

With every national scandal you can trace the people who stood up first and said 'this is wrong'. Gareth Eve was one. When he lost his wife Lisa, who died due to complications from the AstraZeneca vaccine, he put himself in the firing line to tell her story.

He knew he had more chance than most of being listened to. Lisa Shaw, who was just 44, was a BBC journalist, a high profile and popular broadcaster on Radio Newcastle who was happy to receive the vaccine because, as Gareth puts it, 'it was the right and responsible thing to do'.

She paid with her life, and the minute a coroner recorded that the cause of her death was the vaccine, he knew he had to go public. Gareth, 44, spoke to this paper a year ago, movingly and eloquently explaining why families like his felt abandoned by the Government and treated as 'collateral damage'.

Then, he was explaining why he and other bereaved families had joined forces in a potentially ground-breaking legal class action against the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.

It was a reluctant sort of legal action because at the start of the pandemic the Government desperate to roll out the Covid vaccine without delay had agreed an indemnity clause.

The exact details are not public, but it effectively meant that in the event of successful legal action against AstraZeneca over vaccine failings, the Government ('or more accurately, the taxpayer', says Gareth) would foot the bill.

'No one wanted to go to court,' he repeats today. 'But what option did we have? The Government has refused to help, or even acknowledge their role in our loved ones' deaths. We were on our own.'

Earlier this week came news of a significant victory for those families whose loved ones either died or suffered lasting health issues after having the vaccine.

It emerged that in court documents to the High Court, AstraZeneca admitted for the first time that 'in very rare cases' the vaccine can cause a type of blood clotting called TTS (thrombotic thrombocytopenia) the very condition that had killed Lisa.

Lisa Shaw with son Zach, who was just six when his mother died from blood clotting

Gareth Eve put himself in the firing line to tell Lisa's shocking story

Gareth Eve and BBC presenter Lisa on their wedding day

AstraZeneca, which is contesting the claims, also stated: 'TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in any individual case will be a matter for expert evidence.'

The admission could open the door to multi-million-pound payouts for the families involved, many of whom have spent years being dismissed as anti-vaxxers, pilloried on social media for demanding answers and adequate compensation.

So is Gareth celebrating? Yes, but only 'for the others', he says not himself or his son Zach, who was just six when Lisa died.

The reason? Around six weeks ago, Gareth was told that he and 11 other families were being removed from the class action.

While others including one man who died on the same hospital ward as Lisa, in the same week, from exactly the same reaction to the vaccine could be in line for compensation payments if they win in court, he will not.

'It's because of a technicality, a loophole,' he says. 'I am devastated. I feel completely abandoned all over again. It actually takes me back to just after Lisa died when I was in that state of feeling utterly alone, thinking 'well, what now?'.' The background is complicated but, as it was explained to him, lawyers acting for the families were concerned when, in the course of legal proceedings, it emerged that after April 7, 2021, with the approval of the UK regulator, a warning about the risk of thrombotic complications was added by AstraZeneca and sent to healthcare professionals.

AstraZeneca say the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side-effects

Vikki Spit, from Cumbria, pictured with her partner Zion, who died in May 2021

Rock musician Zion died of from a blood clot after having the AstraZeneca Covid jab

There was no hoopla about it at the time. Gareth (and the legal team helping him) became aware of it only recently. 'The message from the Government at the time was still 'this is safe. It is your duty to have the vaccine'.

'And I'm pretty sure Lisa was not made aware of it either. The language was only for professionals the average lay person would not have understood it and it only went on documentation that would have gone to the vaccination centres.'

Yet the mere existence of this warning clearly caused concern with the legal team leading the class action.

'The way it was explained to me was that they felt it was better to remove those families where the vaccine had left the factory after that April 7 cut-off, because they felt that if it comes to court, AstraZeneca could use it against us.

'Lisa had her vaccine on April 29. It had left the factory on April 11. This meant a dozen of us were removed. The issue is that the insurers felt it was too much of a risk to include us. Had our names stayed on the class action and we lost in court, we would have been personally liable for those costs ourselves and they would run into hundreds of thousands of pounds. None of us can afford that.'

He understands the logic, and bears the lawyers no ill-will, but he still feels it is deeply unfair.

'We were all on this rollercoaster, all the families in the same position. Our loved ones died from the same vaccine. To start quibbling about dates and warnings is missing the point.

'We all know what those vaccination centres were like. No one on the ground got warnings! And even if it had been spelled out, there was no alternative. We were all told it was our duty. For this to now be used against us is well, it is wrong.'

The Mail has this week spoken to some of the other families involved in the class action, who were left bewildered by the development, many wondering if they too were going to be excluded.

'This is madness,' says Vikki Spit, from Cumbria, who lost her partner Zion in May 2021. 'We are gutted for Gareth and the others. We are such a tight group and it has left the rest of us wondering if they are going to find another loophole and we will lose more people.

'Gareth was one of the brave ones who dared to speak up, knowing that Lisa's status gave him more clout with the media. This has left us all really cynical and bitter. It's just another example of what we are up against.'

The cut-off date has thrown up anomalies that are hard to fathom, and also seem to make a mockery of Gareth's exclusion. For example, the late husband of another woman in the class action died on the same hospital ward as Lisa in the same week, from the same vaccine reaction, and was 'actually given the vaccine after Lisa', says Gareth.

'But because the vial containing his vaccine had left the factory before hers, his death can be included in the class action,' explains Gareth. 'It's nuts.'

The loophole could have massive consequences. If they reach court and win, the families involved will be entitled to compensation payments worth millions. Gareth will not receive a penny, unless he can fund a separate court action.

'It's not just about the money, though,' he says. 'What we've been fighting for and I will continue to fight for, even if I'm not part of the class action is for someone, the Government or AstraZeneca, to step up and take responsibility.'

What a legal and moral mess this is, and a world away from the huge fanfare that accompanied the rollout of the vaccine in 2020. Developed by scientists at the University of Oxford, it has been credited with saving more than a million lives. Fifty million doses were administered in 2021, and co-developer Dame Sarah Gilbert was given a standing ovation at Wimbledon that year.

And yet as far back as February 2021 problems with the AstraZeneca vaccine had been identified, leading France and Germany to switch to other vaccines.

Various caveats in the UK were introduced with official advice changing first to say it should not be offered to the under-30s, then the under-40s. By the autumn of 2021, its use was being quietly shelved. Figures from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) show 81 deaths appear to have been linked to the adverse reaction from the vaccine that caused blood clotting. Hundreds more have been left with lasting disabilities.

In a statement, AstraZeneca said: 'Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority, and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.

'From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side-effects.'

How affected families should be supported, though, is at the heart of this complex issue. The Government insists there is financial support available, under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme. But this was not designed for Covid-related situations (it was launched in 1979). Payments are limited to 120,000 per claim (a figure set in 2007, and paltry even when you consider loss of earnings alone) and applications must prove severe disablement.

Vikki Spit was the first recipient of this payment in respect to Covid vaccine deaths, but tells us she had to 'fight for a year for it'.

'And even though Zion had died, I had to fight to convince them he had suffered 60 per cent disability. It's not fit for purpose.'

Each family has its own tragedy, but there are striking parallels. Zion, previously fit and healthy, died at 48 after developing headaches following the vaccine.

Gareth's tragedy unfolded in the same way. Lisa started to suffer headaches just a week after having the vaccine 'so she could hug her mum'. On May 16, while having tests in hospital, she started to suffer speech difficulties, struggling to say the word 'goggles' when she and Gareth were discussing Zach's swimming lessons.

A rare bleed on the brain was identified, and Lisa 'the healthiest, bubbliest, loveliest person you could meet,' says Gareth spent the last five days of her life on a ventilator.

Gareth was the one who had to tell their son his mum had died. 'It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.' He still maintains that speaking up was the right course of action, even though it has brought great distress.

'Nobody wanted to know at the beginning because it went against the narrative,' he recalls, remembering how he would try to tell Lisa's story on TV only to be shut down or for viewers to be reminded that vaccines were 'safe'. He recalls being made to feel like a 'crackpot or conspiracy theorist'. 'At the time if you questioned anything about the vaccine, you were accused of being an anti-vaxxer and unpatriotic.'

Conversely, he was also attacked by the anti-vax lobby for daring to have a vaccine (albeit the Pfizer one) even after Lisa died. 'My crime was wanting to take my son on holiday after his mum died, and to do that I needed to be vaccinated. This issue is one of those ones where you have to take a side. I don't want to be on a side. I just want acknowledgement of the facts.'

His fight, certainly before the class action, was lonely, and carried out while he was almost destroyed by grief. He admits he considered suicide in the early, raw days after losing Lisa, 'but could not, because of Zach'.

'He absolutely does remember Lisa. I just don't know how much is from pictures or what the family have told him.'

He says family, particularly Lisa's sisters, have pitched in but the strain of single parenthood is evident. 'I still don't know how I've done,' he shrugs. 'It hasn't been easy. Even daft things like decorating the house Lisa would do that all. I still find myself looking at a cushion and thinking 'do I like this? Would Lisa like it?'.'

Throughout, he continued to fight for some official recognition of the 'sacrifice' his family had made. The families who lost loved ones have long thought of themselves as akin to war veterans, accepting of their fate of being sent to the front but expecting that their families would be looked after if they never came home.

Gareth wrote to three successive prime ministers pleading for help. 'No one wanted to know. I actually have a letter from Rishi Sunak saying he was too busy to see me, but he'd pass me on to the health minister. No word from her either. I'm sure everyone wishes we would go away.'

Trapped between what they call the 'twin Goliaths' of the Government and AstraZeneca, a company worth 185billion, the families increasingly seem like pawns in a bigger game.

'To this day, I can't understand why we have to fight,' says Gareth. 'AstraZeneca have been lauded for saving the world, and maybe rightly so, but ever since their profits have gone through the roof and their people have been rewarded with damehoods, knighthoods and the like. Why do they want to fight us the little people in court?

'There is no debate about how our loved ones died the Government has admitted as much by the payments, even if derisory, from the payment scheme.

'Successive coroners have ruled that the vaccine caused the deaths. Now AstraZeneca have admitted that the vaccine caused the condition that killed Lisa.

'Surely they or the Government, or both would want to support us and say 'we asked you to do your duty, and you did, and now we will support you'.'

From here, his fight seems over. 'I can't afford to take either the Government or AstraZeneca to court on my own,' he says.

And there is salt in the wounds. In cases like his, any legal action must be instigated within three years of injury in this case, the date of the vaccination. Lisa received her vaccination three years ago this week, making this time of year, with anniversaries on the horizon, even more painful.

Were you or a loved one diagnosed with a serious health condition as a result of the Astra-Zeneca vaccine? Or was it even cited as a cause of death of a loved one? Contact us to tell your story at femailreaders@dailymail.co.uk

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AstraZeneca has admitted its Covid vaccine caused the condition that killed Gareth's BBC presenter wife. So why won't ... - Daily Mail