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Anna Morris KC, representing three groups of vaccine-injured and bereaved family members made their case to the UK Covid Inquiry on Wednesday.  The three groups she represents are the UK CV Family, Scottish Vaccine Injury Group and Vaccine Injured Bereaved UK. 

In addition to their injury and bereavement, people have experienced a second trauma: a lack of medical knowledge and understanding about the risk and presentation of vaccine injury, she said.  And, censorship is a very real issue.

Morris, who was appointed to the King’s Council (“KC”) at the end of last year,  has a long-standing reputation as a leading junior specialising in inquests and inquiries, civil liberties, international human rights and both private and public law claims involving public authorities. She is also the Human Rights Editor of Stones’ Justices’ Manual (Lexis Nexis) and author of ‘The Protest Handbook’.

At the UK Covid Inquiry, she is representing three groups that support people who have been injured by covid vaccines or are family members of those who have been killed by them.  She began by introducing the groups and explaining why their voices are critical to the Inquiry’s examination. 

The UK CV Family with more than 1,200 members is the largest support and advocacy group in the UK for those who’ve lost a loved one or suffered a life-changing adverse reaction to the covid-19 vaccine, Morris explained. “They are run entirely by volunteers all of whom are vaccine injured or bereaved themselves.”

Vaccine Injury Bereaved UK (“VIBUK”) is a group of individuals and families who’ve either been severely injured or bereaved as a direct and confirmed result of receiving a covid-19 vaccine in the UK.  VIBUK is campaigning for the government to reform the vaccine damage payment scheme. They also run a support group offering support guidance and raising awareness of vaccine injury and bereavement. Morris explained.  All VIBUK members have confirmation that their injuries were caused by the covid-19 vaccine.

The Scottish Vaccine Injury Group is a rapidly growing community of Scottish people who have either experienced adverse reactions to or who have been bereaved by the covid-19 vaccine.  The group currently has over 200 members.

Morris named the primary causes of these injuries and deaths as:

• vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopenia or VIIT;
• vaccine-induced vasculitis;
• stroke;
• cerebral venous sinus thrombosis; and,
• Guillain-Barre syndrome.

“Survivors are having to cope with the after-effects of their injuries including brain damage and physical disablement, whilst the bereaved are struggling to live without their partners, children or parents,” she said.

Other conditions the vaccine injured are suffering include mast cell activation syndrome, severe vision impairment, rheumatoid arthritis, pericarditis, myocarditis, chronic fatigue syndrome, tinnitus, heart issues, chest pain, brain fog or weakness in their limbs.  Some have suffered pulmonary embolisms, heart attacks or have had to undergo amputations.

“This is not an exhaustive list … many of our clients have experienced delayed diagnosis which has resulted in permanent damage,” Morris said.

“And within each of these groups there are a number of bereaved families who are denied proper investigations into the deaths of their loved ones because those deaths occurred at home during a national lockdown,” she added.

She briefly mentioned a few of those who have lost their lives due to covid injections:

• Neil Millar died from VIIT. 
• Kenneth Purnell lost his life due to vaccine-induced vasculitis.
• The partner of Michael Cornwell died due to bilateral cerebral venous thrombosis.
• Margaret Bailey lost her life from a suppressed immune system due to developing stage four lung cancer.
• Alexandra Kelly lost her mother Anthea to pneumonitis.

(Related: Scotland’s vaccine injured feel ‘abandoned’ with many feeling suicidal due to their illness, Scottish Daily Express, 15 May 2023 and Scotland’s Covid vaccine injured call for end of ‘gaslighting’ from medical profession as they prepare for UK inquiry, Scottish Daily Express, 13 September 2023)

In addition to their injury and bereavement, people have experienced a second trauma: a lack of medical knowledge and understanding about the risk and presentation of vaccine injury.  It has left injured people undiagnosed and without treatment, Morris said.

“Furthermore, a prevailing institutional mindset within medical bodies and the government has been fixated solely on acknowledging the benefits of the vaccine. This has led to the reporting vaccine injury to feel disbelieved, unheard and marginalised. 

“Censorship is a very real issue for the vaccine-injured and bereaved. Their support groups have been shut down by social media platforms and their experiences censored by the mainstream media. They have to speak in code online for fear of having their only source of support taken away from them. They face stigma and abuse for sharing their symptoms in the context of the covid vaccine and even being branded as anti-vaxx for sharing very real and medically proven vaccine injuries.

“[They] are concerned that, given the reported return of covid-19 variants and the discussion in government and the media of a winter vaccine rollout that their experiences will once again be censored and ignored as they don’t fit with the government narrative around vaccines.”

In a survey, 73% of UK CV Family members have considered suicide and in August 2022, the UK CV Family lost its first member to suicide.  “All three groups are extremely concerned that, in the absence of psychological support for those who are now dealing with a chronic as well as stigmatised illness, this will not be the last suicide within the injured community,” Morris said.

Morris suggested that it should concern the UK Covid Inquiry that there is currently no appropriate treatment of vaccine-induced illness and injury, appropriate level of psychological and emotional support or adequate financial support for the vaccine-injured and bereaved. 

Morris went on to state that radical and urgent reforms to the vaccine damage payment scheme are required. “The clear view of those I represent, a large number of whom have made claims under the scheme, is that it is no longer fit for purpose,” she said.  “As of July this year, the scheme has received a total of 6,399 claims of which … only 127 claimants have received an award.”

You can watch Morris’ 20-minute submission to the UK Covid Inquiry in the video below.