THE husband of a much-loved BBC presenter who died due to complications from the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine says taking legal action is his only option.

Lisa Shaw, 44, who worked for BBC Radio Newcastle, died in May 2021 - a week after her first jab.

Gareth Eve is among a group of families, to allegedly lose loved ones to the side effects caused by the vaccine, suing the makers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jabs.

He told the BBC: "It's not in my make-up to turn around and say I want to sue somebody, but for almost two years, we've tried to engage with the Government and tried to engage with MPs since Lisa died and not one of them has reached out or engaged with us at all. 

"If the Government or AstraZeneca don't want to engage with us, then what else are we supposed to do?"

"We're not crackpots or conspiracy theorists, we're husbands and wives and family members who have lost somebody - that's all it is. 

"Whatever the money, it's not going to bring my son's mam back."

In August 2021, Newcastle coroner Karen Dilks said Ms Shaw had died from a very rare "vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia" - a condition which leads to swelling and bleeding of the brain.

Mr Eve added: "These things have happened to too many people and we're made to feel like it's a dirty secret, that we're talking about something we shouldn't be talking about.

"It's established it's been caused by AstraZeneca's Covid vaccination - it's not about Covid, it's not about how many lives the Covid vaccination has saved, it's about what this vaccination has done to Lisa and other families and not about how successful it was or whether somebody is anti-vax." 

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was first approved for use in the UK in December 2020 with the Government ordering 100 million doses for its vaccination programme.

A spokesperson for the Department for Health and Social Care, who said the vaccines had undergone trials, said: "More than 144 million Covid vaccines have been given in England, which has helped the country to live with Covid and saved thousands of lives."

In a statement, AstraZeneca said: "We are unable to comment on ongoing legal matters. 

"Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines. Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has reported health problems."