Lisa Shaw death: Legal action 'only option' for husband

Gareth Eve's wife Lisa died in May 2021 shortly after she had the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine

The husband of a 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 said despite trying to "engage with the government, MPs and three prime ministers" no-one had "reached out" in return.

The Department of Health said all vaccines had "undergone robust trials".

Father-of-one Mr Eve is among a group of families who lost loved ones, allegedly to side effects caused by the vaccine, who are suing the makers of the Oxford-AstraZeneca jab.

He said: "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.

"Any engagement is fleeting at best so that's the reason that we're left with no alternative - if the government or AstraZeneca don't want to engage with us then what else are we supposed to do?"

He said all he wanted was "some sort of acknowledgement or recognition that these deaths have occurred".

Mr Eve added: "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."

Lawyers for the group sent the company pre-action protocol letters in November, the first step in a legal claim on behalf of about 75 claimants - some of whom have lost relatives and some who survived with injuries.

Lisa Shaw was a presenter on BBC Radio Newcastle

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 said: "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 the 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 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.

"All vaccines being used in the UK have undergone robust clinical trials and have met the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's (MHRA) strict standards of safety, effectiveness and quality."

It added vaccines were the "best way" to protect against disease from Covid and that the vaccine damage payments scheme was available for "individuals who have, in extremely rare circumstances, been severely disabled or died due to receiving a government-recommended vaccine for a listed disease". 

• Covid vaccine safety - what we know

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." 

It added evidence from clinical trials and data showed the Covid vaccine had "an acceptable safety profile" and that the benefits "outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects".

The claimants are taking legal action under the Consumer Protection Act 1987 as well as claiming payment under the government's Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.

Solicitor Peter Todd from Scott-Moncrieff and Associates, which is acting for the claimants, said damages were being pursued on the basis that the vaccine was a "defective product in that it was not as safe as consumers generally were reasonably entitled to expect".