A WOMAN whose fiancé died after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine has become the first person to have been awarded compensation.

Former rocker Zion, 48, of Alston, fell ill on May 13, 2021 - eight days after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine. He died some days later.

Vikki Spit has now been awarded £120,000 - the maximum settlement - under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme 1979 in relation to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Hexham Courant:

A complication of the vaccine was confirmed as Zion's cause of death - but this was only accepted by the NHS Business Services Authority only a year later.

Vikki is now calling on the Government to increase the maximum compensation amount in order to better reflect current conditions and represent the loss of earnings that a person in their forties would have made before their retirement. 

She is also calling for the scheme to be reformed to allow others who have been injured by the vaccine to receive compensation more easily. 

“I am still heartbroken by the sudden loss of my partner of 21 years, and alongside this emotional trauma, I have also been faced with financial hardship as a result of the loss of Zion’s contribution to household finances", she said. 

"The £120,000 payment from the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme does not begin to cover the loss of earnings that a person in their forties would have made before they retired. There just isn’t the proper financial aid coming from the Government to support those who have lost family to the vaccine.

“I call upon the NHS Business Services Authority and government to work together to create a Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme that is fit for 2022. The maximum award has fallen well short of inflation, even before the current cost of living crisis, and the time taken to make a claim must be shortened, no one should be out of pocket because a loved one died as a result of a vaccination.” 

Zion and Vikki were both members of glam-punk band SPiT LiKE THiS. Before his death, Zion was working as a writer and filmmaker; Vikki continues to work as a force-free horse trainer in Northumberland.

Zion donated his liver and kidneys and changed three lives after he had passed away.

James Bell, medical negligence partner at Hodge Jones & Allen, added: “While I am glad that Vikki has been able to receive some restitution for the hardship she has faced as a result of Zion’s death, the scheme simply isn’t fit for purpose.

“While nothing can be done to heal the emotional impacts, the least the scheme can do is ensure that loved ones left behind are not faced with further pain.

"The government has done a great job of protecting public health by encouraging mass uptake of the vaccine; this duty of care now needs to extend to the few unlucky individuals who took this advice and suffered the consequences.”