An NHS pharmacist who took his own life after the Covid vaccine left him suffering with paralysing complications has his request for compensation rejected.

John Cross was told by the official medical assessor for the government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) that the Covid vaccine had caused his rare neurological effects but he wasn’t disabled enough for a payment.

The VDPS was set up in 1979 to make one-off payments of £120,000 to people who have suffered rare, but significant, side effects to various vaccines.

Mr Cross was a strong supporter of vaccination and was eager to get his jab to protect vulnerable and elderly relatives but two weeks after his first dose he began to suffer from progressive paralysis that travelled through his body.

He was unable to move, blink or breathe and was admitted to intensive care where he was given a breathing tube in his neck and nursing staff had to tape his eyes closed so he could sleep.

Doctors eventually diagnosed Mr Cross with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy, swelling of the nerves that leads to a loss of strength and sensation, and relapsed several times.

John Cross pictured in hospital where he spent seven months recovering after being diagnosed with Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy

Mr Cross eventually learned to eat, walk and talk again but his mobility and fitness never returned to the level it was before he got sick

After seven months in hospital recovering, he slowly learned to eat, walk and talk again but his mobility and fitness never returned to the level it was before he got sick. He was left with chronic pain and numbness and relapsed several times.

Doctors urged Mr Cross to submit a claim to the VDPS but after a two years of delays, only one review of his medical records and no face-to-face assessment, his claim was rejected.

His widow, Christine, told Sky News: ‘Nobody spoke to him. There was no personal contact, nothing. Just fill in this form and that was it.

‘I’m very angry. John went through enough with the illness and the recovery without going through the trauma of this bureaucracy.’

His mental health began declining shortly after the rejection and he eventually took his own life in October 2023 after another flare-up meant he would have to receive more gruelling treatment.

Mr Cross’s eldest son, Adam, said his father dreaded the intense dialysis-like treatment to remove rogue antibodies from his blood because it left him extremely fatigued for days after.

Mr Cross had begun gathering medical evidence to have the judgement overturned before he took his own life but he became increasingly anxious and overwhelmed.

His family told Sky News that they are going to try have the judgement overturned and are calling for urgent reform to the government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.

His widow, Christine, told Sky News: ‘I’m very angry. John went through enough with the illness and the recovery without going through the trauma of this bureaucracy’

His family told Sky News that they are going to try have the judgement overturned and are calling for urgent reform to the government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme. Pictured left to right: His daughter, Liz Whitehead, and his two sons Adam and Phillip

His youngest son, Phillip Cross, said: ‘We want some good out of this and to get the system changed in memory of dad.

‘You look at everything and it’s just wrong. It’s unjust.’

His daughter, Liz Whitehead, said: ‘We’ve all had our vaccinations. And we continue to since we’ve lost dad.

‘But now you start to question. If a rare, unusual thing were to take place, the system’s not got your back. It’s not there for you… is it worth the risk?’

Under the VDPS, a medical examiner assesses patient records and testimonies from doctors involved in the claimant’s care.

The claimant must be deemed to be 60 per cent disabled to qualify for payment. For example, an amputation below the knee would be deemed sufficient for a payout.

However, the Cross family’s solicitor, Peter Todd, of Scott-Moncrieff and Associates, said medical assessors struggle to make ‘apples and pears’ comparisons with complex damage from vaccines.

He said: ‘The threshold is often misunderstood as being very high, akin to being totally paralysed.

‘But it isn’t. It’s a much lower standard, and they have to take into account both the physical disablement and the psychological impact.’

Mr Todd has tracked the number of applications sent to the VDPS. Before the pandemic there were a few dozen each year but 14,000 people have made claims since the COVID vaccine rollout in late 2020 according to Freedom of Information requests submitted by Mr Todd to the NHS Business Services Authority.

Just over 6,000 have been given news of an outcome so far and 180 people have been told they would be given a payment.

Another 350 people have been told that the vaccine caused their complications on the balance of probabilities but that they didn’t meet the 60% disability threshold for a pay out.

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