Man whose wife died of blood clot after she had AstraZeneca jab urges Government to keep compensation pledge to families
The husband of an Oxford University Press executive who died of a blood clot after she received the AstraZeneca vaccine has demanded that the Government compensate families who lost loved ones.
Nicola Weideling suffered catastrophic bleeds on her brain after being hospitalised with blood clots caused by the vaccination, which she received 24 days before she died.
The 45-year-old had complained to her GP about neck pain but was not diagnosed with vaccine side effects until she was taken to hospital with several other symptoms of blood clots.
Speaking after his wife's inquest at Hampshire Coroners Court in Winchester, Kurt Weideling said the Government now needed to follow through on its promise to pay affected families £120,000 under the Vaccine Damage Payment programme.
The programme gives a one-off, tax free payment if someone is severely disabled as a result of a vaccination, or on behalf of someone who has died.
The family insists those like Mrs Weideling, who lost their lives after "doing the right thing" and getting vaccinated, should not simply be dismissed as "collateral damage".
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended that people under 40 should not be offered the Oxford-made vaccine due to the increased risk of blood clots from the jab.
The risk of the rare type of clot is eight times less than the risk of a clot caused by Covid, according to a University of Oxford study. The clots have been linked to 73 deaths out of 50 million doses of AstraZeneca in the UK.
The court heard that Mrs Weideling had her first Covid vaccine on April 21 last year and received the AstraZeneca injection despite reported cases of people suffering blood clots as a result of its side-effects.
After a few days she started to complain of neck pain and had a telephone consultation with her GP on May 6, but at that stage the problem was believed to be muscular.
Mrs Weideling, from Winchester, was taken to Royal Hampshire County Hospital two days later after symptoms of headaches and bruising developed.
She was given a CT scan of her head which revealed clots and was transferred to University Hospital Southampton. After being unable to reach his wife for a few days, Mr Weideling was told she had a "significant brain bleed" and did not regain consciousness.
A post-mortem showed Mrs Weideling died on May 15, 2021, after suffering a stroke caused by Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia, otherwise known as blood clots caused by a vaccine.
Jason Pegg, the area coroner for Hampshire, said: "With the benefit of hindsight, it seems to me that the symptoms of pain in Nicola's neck were more likely than not to be associated with [blood clots].
"Nicola was somebody who did succumb to blood clots. Nicola developed cerebral blood clots in consequence to her Covid-19 vaccination. A rare but recognised complication of the vaccination which led to a cerebral infarction [stroke]."
A government spokesman said: "Every death is a tragedy, and our sympathies go out to Nicola's family.
"All vaccines being used in the UK have undergone robust clinical trials and have met the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's strict standards of safety, effectiveness and quality.
"The vaccine damage payments scheme provides additional support to help ease the burden on individuals who have, in extremely rare circumstances, been severely disabled due to receiving a government-recommended vaccine for a listed disease.
"Vaccines are the best way to protect against severe disease from Covid, and we would urge anyone who still hasn't yet taken up the offer of a jab to come forward."
