First Covid vaccine side-effect claims land in German courts

Vaccine-maker BioNTech faced Monday its first legal claim in its home country of Germany over adverse effects allegedly suffered by some users of its Covid vaccines, more than two years after one of the world’s fastest and most extensive inoculation campaigns.

In the face of the 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 procedures in several countries including France and Britain where plaintiffs argue that the vaccines harmed their health.

In Germany, a court in Hamburg was prepared to hear a case from Monday against BioNTech, which, together with US giant Pfizer, produced the first mRNA vaccine Comirnaty.

The hearing was delayed however after the claimant’s lawyers put in a last-minute challenge of the judge’s impartiality, and asking instead for a panel of judges to rule on the case.

In her claim, the plaintiff reported suffering effects including “pain in the upper body, swelling of the extremities, exhaustion, fatigue and sleeping disorders” after receiving the vaccine, 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.