German courts will from Monday begin examining a series of claims over adverse effects suffered after coronavirus vaccinations, more than two years after one of the world’s fastest and most extensive innoculation campaigns.
In the face of a deadly pandemic that emerged in early 2020, which prompted border closures and lockdowns that trapped millions of people in their homes, the arrival of Covid vaccines had been widely hailed as a life-saver.
But the jabs, which had been developed at breakneck speed and granted early approval for usage, are now the focus of legal claims in several countries including France and Britain as the plaintiffs say the vaccines damaged their health.
In Germany, a court in Hamburg will be the first to hear a case brought against homegrown vaccine manufacturer BioNTech, which, together with US giant Pfizer, produced the first mRNA vaccine Comirnaty.
The claimant reported suffering effects including “pain in the upper body, swelling of the extremities, exhaustion, fatigue and sleeping disorders” after taking the jab, the court said.
She is seeking 150,000 euros ($162,000) in damages and recognition that the “defendant is bound to provide material damages”, the court added.
Her lawyer Thomas Ulbrich, who is also representing another 250 people in similar cases, said his clients were “all healthy” before suffering from symptoms, allegedly following their jabs.
He believes that the medical files he has on hand offer a link between the vaccines and the symptoms experienced by his clients.
‘Rocky and long road’
BioNTech’s mRNA vaccine, a scientific breakthrough, had been granted conditional marketing authorisation as early as December 21, 2020, by the EU regulatory authority EMA.
Similar authorisation for Moderna, another mRNA vaccine maker, swiftly followed.
With fears of catching the disease running high, the vaccines were pre-ordered by governments even during their development phases, and deployment swiftly followed once regulatory authorities gave their approval.
But the new generation of inoculations also sparked a wave of vaccine sceptics questioning the safety of the jabs.
Out of 192 million jabs given in Germany, the country’s medecines regulator, the Paul Ehrlich Institute, said 338,857 suspected cases of side effects were reported, including 54,879 severe reactions.
Among the worst cases, “the symptoms are very different, they vary from stroke to thrombosis to cardiac diseases”, said another German lawyer, Joachim Caesar-Preller, who represents 140 clients making similar claims.
He is seeking up to one million euros in damages per case – plus interest – but concedes that a “rocky and long road” lies ahead in the legal battles.
