There have been more than three times the number of claims under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme for Covid jabs than during the previous four decades for all other vaccines combined – but only 1% have been successful. BBC News has the story.

Nearly £50 million of taxpayers’ money has been paid by the NHS to an outsourced firm assessing claims of medical harm caused by vaccines, the BBC has found.

The figure is eight times the amount originally estimated for the assessment work carried out by Crawford & Company Adjusters – and almost £20 million more than the total so far awarded to those injured or bereaved as a result of Covid vaccines.

The firm’s five-year contract, initially estimated to be worth £6 million, has more than a year left to run – however a new company will start taking over the work in the coming months.

The cost of the work by Crawford, and “level of contract spend”, is because the volume of claims “has exceeded the anticipated levels”, an NHS spokesperson told the BBC.

More than 22,000 claims related to Covid vaccines have been made so far, most of them relating to the jab manufactured by AstraZeneca – but only about 1% have resulted in compensation payouts.

They are handled by the UK-wide Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), for which Crawford has carried out medical assessments since March 2022. …

There have been more than three times the number of claims under the VDPS for Covid jabs than during the previous four decades for all the eligible vaccines combined.

Despite the increase, the number of successful claims has been small. As of mid-November last year, 249 people had received payouts for harm caused by Covid vaccinations.

The payments totalled £29.8 million, funded by the UK Government and paid separately from the Crawford contract.

Monthly NHS payments to Crawford escalated soon after it began the assessment work for the VDPS, BBC analysis shows.

The NHS appears to have begun scrutinising the agreement with the provider as costs spiralled because of the number of claims.

Read More: “Unexpected” Massive Surge in Vaccine Harm Claims