Utah mom left 'disabled' after COVID-19 vaccine trial launches first US lawsuit against AstraZeneca



Prior to the pandemic, Brianne Dressen of Salt Lake City was living the active life she always wanted. She went rock climbing with her husband, a chemist for the U.S. Army; ferried her two children to and from soccer games and piano practices; and taught preschool.

Everything came to a screeching halt in November 2020 — not as a result of the union-driven school closures, the lockdowns, or the outcome of the election, but with her participation in an AstraZeneca vaccine trial.

"I walked into the clinic fine, and walked out the beginning of a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."

The experimental vaccine allegedly left the 42-year-old Utah mother with a debilitating injury.

Dressen cannot bring a product liability action against the company on account of the federal Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act. She can, however, possibly ding the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant for breach of contract, which is exactly what she aims to do.

Dressen filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah Monday alleging that she developed a debilitating neurological condition as a result of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and that the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant failed to cover the cost of her medical care as promised.

When presented with Dressen's complaint, Daniel Horowitz, the host of "Conservative Review with Daniel Horowitz" on the Blaze Podcast Network and author of "Rise of the Fourth Reich: Confronting COVID Fascism with a New Nuremberg Trial So This Never Happens Again," told Blaze News, "It is shocking how we now have thousands of academic and case studies of injuries affecting every organ system, yet victims remain alone with little legal recourse for compensation."

"We have VAERS, V-Safe, documents from the vaccine manufacturers, and European Medicines Agency reporting, all showing catastrophic levels of injury, yet there is no critical mass of a political movement in any country at this point to repeal unbridled indemnity of these criminal enterprises," continued Horowitz. "It's also peculiar how AstraZeneca was taken off the market, but the mRNA shots, which are even worse, remain funded and promoted by government."

Background

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was a viral-vector vaccine developed in collaboration with Oxford University and produced for various companies by the Serum Institute of India.

While 32,000 Americans like Dressen participated in vaccine trials in the homeland and the Biden administration agreed to share up to 60 million doses with other nations, the AstraZeneca vaccine was never rolled out in the United States. It was, however, administered billions of times worldwide.

It quickly became clear that the vaccine was not as "safe and effective" as health authorities throughout the Anglosphere had guaranteed. After all, there were numerous reports of otherwise healthy recipients experiencing abnormal bleeding, low blood platelets, blood clots, and even dying.

German and Nordic researchers determined that some recipients were developing a clotting disorder called "vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia," which produced antibodies that activated platelets and led to clots.

Despite a growing number of likely victims, AstraZeneca suggested there was "no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country."

The company's claims have aged like milk.

Last year, Jamie Scott, a father of two left with a permanent clot-related brain injury, filed suit against the company. His complaint was followed by dozens more and ultimately a class-action lawsuit.

Several months after Scott sued AstraZeneca, the company admitted in a February court document that "it is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause [thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome]. The causal mechanism is not known."

The following month, the company withdrew its "marketing authorization" in the European Union. That application went into effect last week. The Telegraph reported that AstraZeneca is expected to remove the vaccine from all other markets where it was approved.

'Hollowed out'

Dressen's lawsuit, reportedly the first to be launched stateside against AstraZeneca, claims the company offered various written promises to participants in its vaccine trial, including financial reimbursement for each completed visit to the test clinic for various procedures; financial reimbursement for each completed phone call linked to the study; and compensation for study-related injuries.

"At the moment the substance entered Bri's blood, a solemn contract had been formed."

"Defendants defined 'research injuries' as '[i]njuries that have been caused by the vaccine, tests or procedures,'" said the lawsuit. "Defendants promised that 'Sponsor will pay the costs of medical treatment for research injuries, provided that the costs are reasonable, and you did not cause the injury yourself.'"

"At the moment the substance entered Bri's blood, a solemn contract had been formed," said the complaint. "Her performance was complete and Defendants' promises were irrevocable."

When things went south, the lawsuit claims the company effectively left Dressen hanging.

"I was a completely hollowed out version of who I once was."

Within an hour of receiving the shot, Dressen claims she experienced tingling in her arm. The paraesthesia apparently was not temporary or localized. It soon spread to her other arm.

"That evening other progressively worrying symptoms emerged: blurred vision, double vision, headache, sound sensitivity, a loud ringing in the ears (tinnitus), nausea, vomiting, fever, and chills," said the lawsuit.

In the weeks that followed, a prickling sensation reportedly spread to Dressen's legs. She indicated she lost 20 pounds from constant vomiting while this and her other symptoms worsened.

"I walked in to the clinic fine, and walked out the beginning of a nightmare I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy," recalled Dressen. "My little girl's voice was too painful for my ears. My little boy's hand was too painful for touch. There was no break, no reprieve, no escape. No answers, no help, only questions, and fear of what was overtaking my body more and more each day as new symptoms piled on."

"I was a completely hollowed out version of who I once was," added Dressen.

In June 2021, a team of neurologists from the National Institute of Health reportedly diagnosed Dressen as having "Post Vaccine Neuropathy."

According to the lawsuit, Dressen is still "disabled" three years later; "a shadow of her former self: unable to work, unable to do any athletic activity, unable to parent the way she had, and unable to drive more than a few blocks at a time."

Dressen told the Telegraph that the worse part is that her children, now aged nine and 11, can't remember the kind of person their mother was before the injury.

"It really sucks. The worse part, the biggest punishment of all of this, is the impact on my kids," said Dressen.

Painful and costly

Dressen's lawsuit claims that AstraZeneca ignored multiple requests for support until finally coughing up a meager $1,243.30, "a minuscule fraction of the medical bills and lost wages, among other financial costs, that Bri had incurred and will continue to incur."

After all, Dressen's biweekly medication supposedly ran her $3,500 per session. One of her current medications would cost her over $430,000 a year. With the help of insurance, she is presently paying roughly $119,000.

"The way we have been and continue to be treated is simply appalling."

In order to access the $1,243.30, Dressen would have to release AstraZeneca of further responsibility for her care.

"The way we have been and continue to be treated is simply appalling," Brian Dressen, the plaintiff's husband, is quoted as saying in the complaint.

The Telegraph reported that Utah law enables complainants who sue for breach of contract to claim for damages and costs resulting from the alleged breach. While Dressen is not suing for a specific amount, she could possibly have AstraZeneca on the hook, not only for her legal and medical bills, but for additional damages — including for lost income and emotional distress.

A spokeswoman for the company told the Telegraph that AstraZeneca would not comment on ongoing litigation. She did, however, say, "Patient safety is our highest priority. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects."

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AstraZeneca is withdrawing its vaccine globally after admitting it can cause potentially deadly blood clots



British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca is taking its COVID-19 vaccine off the market worldwide.

While the move follows hard on the heels of the company's admission that its shot can cause potentially deadly blood clots and in the face of a class-action lawsuit brought by apparent victims and deceased victims' families, AstraZeneca has attributed the withdrawal to commercial considerations.

Background

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was a viral-vector vaccine developed in collaboration with Oxford University and produced for various companies by the Serum Institute of India. It relied upon a modified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus and was sold under various brand names, including Vaxzevria and Covishield.

Blaze News previously reported that the shot was approved for use in the U.K. in December 2020 and later approved by the World Health Organization. While never approved for rollout in the U.S., the Biden administration agreed to share up to 60 million doses with other nations.

Within a year of approval, the vaccine had been injected over 2.5 billion times worldwide.

The vaccine was not only touted by then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as a "triumph for British science" but passed off as "safe and effective" by the mainstream media and various so-called experts on both sides of the Atlantic.

Some unfortunate members of the British public and others around the world similarly cajoled into getting the vaccine were soon left with a firsthand understanding that the so-called experts were dead wrong.

Doctors started noticing in 2021 that otherwise healthy people were ending up with grievous injuries or even dying after receiving the AstaZeneca shot. Facing mounting evidence of a link between the vaccine and adverse side effects, various countries temporarily took the shot off the market, citing reports of abnormal bleeding, low blood platelets, blood clots, and sudden deaths.

German and Nordic researchers determined that some vaccine recipients were developing a clotting disorder called "vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia," which generated antibodies that activated platelets and led to clots. Researchers indicated that the odds of the vaccine harming recipients was one in 100,000 — a higher likelihood than the vaccine actually keeping patients under 30 out of the hospital with COVID.

The Telegraph reported that among the hundreds of suspected thrombo-embolic events documented among British AstraZeneca patients, at least seven were ultimately fatal for victims in the 18-29 age cohort; 10 were fatal for victims ages 30-39; 17 were fatal for victims ages 40-49; 21 were fatal for victims ages 50-59; 11 were fatal for victims ages 60-69; seven were fatal for victims ages 70-79; and four were fatal for those 80 and over.

Legal action and admission

Jamie Scott, a father of two who was left with a permanent clot-related brain injury following his AstraZeneca vaccination in April 2021, sued the company last year. His effort to hold the pharmaceutical giant accountable set off an avalanche of similar complaints.

In the months since, over 50 other alleged vaccine victims have joined a class-action lawsuit against the company.

The Telegraph reported that the company told Scott's lawyers last year it did "not accept that [thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome] is caused by the vaccine at a generic level."

However, AstraZeneca admitted in a February court document that "it is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known."

According to the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, "very rare" side effects are those that occur in less than one in 10,000 cases, reported the Independent.

This admission was a big deal granted the company had repeatedly denied causation over the years.

For instance, in a March 14, 2021, statement, AstraZeneca claimed that a careful review showed "no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country."

Withdrawal

According to the Telegraph, AstraZeneca voluntarily withdrew its "marketing authorization" in the European Union on March 5, just weeks after filing court documents containing its blood-clot admission. This withdrawal application went into effect on Tuesday.

"This decision to withdraw marketing authorization, ending the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU, will be welcomed," said a lawyer for the alleged victims of the vaccine, now engaged in a class-action lawsuit against the company.

The company, which did over $12 billion in product sales in Q1 2024, is expected to follow suit in other markets around the globe where its vaccine was approved.

The reason provided for the withdrawal is that the vaccine has been made redundant by other "updated vaccines."

AstraZeneca reportedly said in a statement, "We are incredibly proud of the role Vaxzevria played in ending the global pandemic. According to independent estimates, over 6.5 million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally."

"Our efforts have been recognized by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic," continued the statement. "As multiple, variant Covid-19 vaccines have since been developed, there is a surplus of available updated vaccines. This has led to a decline in demand for Vaxzevria, which is no longer being manufactured or supplied. AstraZeneca has therefore taken the decision to initiate withdrawal of the marketing authorizations for Vaxzevria within Europe."

"We will now work with regulators and our partners to align on a clear path forward to conclude this chapter and significant contribution to the Covid-19 pandemic," added the company.

Sarah Moore, a partner with the law firm representing the group action, told the Telegraph, "To those who we represent, all of whom have suffered bereavement or serious injury as a result of the AstraZeneca vaccine, this decision to withdraw marketing authorization, ending the usage of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the EU, will be welcomed."

Moore suggested further that the withdrawal will be viewed as a "decision linked with AstraZeneca's recent admission that the vaccine can cause TTS, and the fact that regulators across the world suspended or stopped usage of the vaccine following concerns regarding TTS."

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AstraZeneca vindicates skeptics with admission that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause blood clots



The British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has finally admitted that its COVID-19 vaccine can cause bloodclots.

While there were plenty of indications and fatalities over the years to suggest as much, the company and so-called experts around the world long downplayed the causal link along with critics' concerns.

Clot shot

The Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine was a viral vector vaccine developed in the United Kingdom, which used a transmogrified version of a chimpanzee adenovirus. The shot wasapproved for use in the U.K. in December 2020 and later approved by the World Health Organization. It was not rolled out at the outset in the U.S., although the Biden administration did agree to share up to 60 million doses with other nations.

By January 2022, the vaccine had been injected globally more than 2.5 billion times.

More than 20 countries temporarily took AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine off the market in March 2021 following mounting reports of abnormal bleeding, low blood platelets, blood clots, and sudden deaths among various recipients.

Some agencies had been caught off guard as blood clotting was not an advertised side effect of the vaccine. Reuters indicated that Australia's Federal Office for Safety in Health Care, for instance, was surprised when a 49-year-old nurse died from "severe coagulation disorders" after receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine.

USA Today indicated that some of the cases that raised red flags in 2021 involved blood clots in the lungs, the legs, throughout the blood, and in the brain.

German and Nordic researchers concluded that some vaccine recipients were developing a clotting disorder that produced antibodies that activated platelets and led to clots, reported the New York Times. What was then dubbed "vaccine-induced immune thrombotic thrombocytopenia" was believed to harm one in 100,000 recipients.

As a point of contrast, for patients under 30, the vaccine would prevent only 0.8 in 100,000 from going to the hospital with COVID, according to the Telegraph.

AstraZeneca repeatedly denied causation, noting in a March 14, 2021, statement that a careful review showed "no evidence of an increased risk of pulmonary embolism, deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or thrombocytopenia, in any defined age group, gender, batch or in any particular country."

AstraZeneca added that the "available evidence does not confirm that the vaccine is the cause [of the clots]."

Despite an alarming number of apparent victims, various health organizations, including the European Medicines Agency, suggested that "the vaccine's benefits continue to outweigh its risks."

Multiple European countries resumed AstraZeneca vaccinations in late March after the European Medicine Agency claimed it was "safe and effective."

The World Health Organization doubled down in June 2022, claiming AstraZeneca was "safe and effective for individuals aged 18 and above," reported the BBC.

The cry of the so-called experts

The temporary caution exercised by some European nations was criticized by American medical professionals such as Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an infectious disease specialist at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, USA Today reported at the time.

"While it's easy to scare people, it's very hard to unscare them," said Offit. "It creates the perception that these vaccines are dangerous."

Offit further suggested that the "only way out of this pandemic is by vaccination, and if we make people reluctant to be vaccinated, we're going to have a hard time getting out of this pandemic."

"Unless there is an unusually high rate of blood clots among people receiving a particular vaccine, I just think it's quite dangerous to draw these kind of conclusions of causality without knowing," Akiko Iwasaki, an epidemiologist at Yale University, said in March 2021.

Daniel Salmon of Johns Hopkins' Institute for Vaccine Safety told the New York Times that vaccines had not been shown to cause blood clots.

Peter Hotez, a cable news vaccine promoter and the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, claimed, "By unnecessarily suspending the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine, the European countries may have created a new problem."

Hotez suggested that the "vaccine ecosystem is fragile, and it doesn't take a lot to get a vaccine voted off the island."

Legal action

Jamie Scott, a father of two, was left with a permanent brain injury after developing a blood clot and bleed on his brain following his AstraZeneca vaccination in April 2021. On three occasions, his wife was told by hospital staff that Scott was going to die. Having so far survived his injury, Scott — certain the vaccine was "defective" — is now seeking to hold AstraZeneca accountable, reported the Telegraph.

Scott sued the company last year. At least 51 other alleged vaccine victims have since followed his lead, launching a group action under section 2 of the British Consumer Protection Act of 1987. Among the plaintiffs are the widower and two young children of Alpa Tailor, a 35-year-old who died after receiving the shot.

A coroner determined in September 2021 that the mother of two had died from blood clots on her brain. She began suffering stroke-like symptoms a week after her first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, reported the Daily Mail.

In the event that AstraZeneca loses in court, it could be forking over around $100 million in compensation. The British government will, however, underwrite the company's legal bills.

The admission

AstraZeneca told Scott's lawyers in March 2023, "We do not accept that [thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome] is caused by the vaccine at a generic level."

However, the Telegraph noted that in a legal document submitted in February to the High Court of Justice in the U.K., the company noted, "It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known."

After confirming victims' suspicions, the company attempted to cast doubt on whether the plaintiffs were themselves victims of such "very rare cases," writing, "TTS can also occur in the absence of the AZ vaccine (or any vaccine). Causation in any individual case will be a matter for expert evidence."

According to the Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences, "very rare" side effects are those that occur in less than one in 10,000 cases, reported the Independent.

The company has reportedly also attempted to cover itself, claiming that the product information concerning the AstraZeneca vaccine was updated in April 2021 to note "the possibility that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is capable, in very rare cases, of being a trigger" for TTS.

Kate Scott, the first plaintiff's wife, told the Telegraph, "The medical world has acknowledged for a long time that VITT was caused by the vaccine. It's only AstraZeneca who have questioned whether Jamie’s condition was caused by the jab."

"It's taken three years for this admission to come. It's progress, but we would like to see more from them and the Government. It's time for things to move more quickly," said the victim's wife. "We need an apology, fair compensation for our family and other families who have been affected. We have the truth on our side, and we are not going to give up."

Sarah Moore, a partner with the law firm representing the group action, said in a statement, "It has taken AstraZeneca a year to formally admit that their vaccine has caused this harm, when this was a fact widely accepted by the clinical community since the end of 2021: In that context, regrettably it seems that AstraZeneca, the Government and their lawyers are more keen to play strategic games and run up legal feels than to engage seriously with the devastating impact that the vaccine has had upon our clients' lives."

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32-year-old psychologist died from 'unintended complications of the vaccine,' inquest reportedly ruled



Psychologist Stephen Wright of the U.K., who passed away in 2021 shortly after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, died because of "unintended complications of the vaccine," an inquest ruled, according to BBC News.

Wright, who was only 32 years old, passed away a mere 10 days after getting a first shot, senior coroner Andrew Harris found, according to the report.

The psychologist had a blood clot to his brain post-vaccination, according to the outlet, which also noted that the man's widow, Charlotte Wright, has been seeking to have the "natural causes" terminology on the death certificate altered.

Harris characterized the situation as a "very unusual and deeply tragic case," the outlet reported. The man had a brainstem infarction, bleeding on his brain, as well as "vaccine-induced thrombosis," the inquest heard, according to BBC News.

Harris reportedly said it was "very important to record as fact that it is the AstraZeneca vaccine - but that is different from blaming AstraZeneca." He also reportedly noted, "It seems to me that there is not an action one can take at the moment."

In response to the findings of the coroner, an AstraZeneca spokesperson claimed that "the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects," BBC News reported. "We are very saddened by Stephen Wright's death and extend our deepest sympathies to his family for their loss. Patient safety is our highest priority and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines."

"It was made clear that Stephen was [previously] fit and healthy and that his death was by vaccination of AstraZeneca," Wright's widow said, according to the outlet. "For us, it allows us to be able to continue our litigation against AstraZeneca. This is the written proof."

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Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton says he suffered 'disastrous' side effects from COVID-19 vaccine, blames 'propaganda' insisting they're safe



Legendary guitarist Eric Clapton said he suffered "disastrous" side effects from his COVID-19 vaccine treatments and blamed "propaganda" insisting that the shots are safe.

What are the details?

Rolling Stone reported that the 76-year-old musician — known the world over for his stints with the Yardbirds and Cream in the 1960s as well as his long solo career marked by classic songs such as "Layla" and "Wonderful Tonight" — in February got an initial AstraZeneca vaccine shot.

The magazine cited a letter Clapton wrote describing his ordeal to architect and anti-lockdown activist Robin Monotti Graziadei, who shared it with the guitarist's permission. Rolling Stone said it confirmed the authenticity of the letter — but that a Clapton rep didn't immediately respond to its request for comment.

"I took the first jab of AZ and straight away had severe reactions which lasted ten days," Clapton wrote in the letter, according to the magazine. "I recovered eventually and was told it would be twelve weeks before the second one…"

He added that "about six weeks later I was offered and took the second AZ shot, but with a little more knowledge of the dangers. Needless to say the reactions were disastrous, my hands and feet were either frozen, numb or burning, and pretty much useless for two weeks, I feared I would never play again," Rolling Stone said.

Clapton also shared in the letter that he suffers from "peripheral neuropathy and should never have gone near the needle" and that "the propaganda said the vaccine was safe for everyone," the magazine reported.

"I continue to tread the path of passive rebellion and try to tow [sic] the line in order to be able to actively love my family, but it's hard to bite my tongue with what I now know," the guitarist also wrote, according to Rolling Stone.

'Stand and Deliver'

Clapton hit the headlines late last year for a related reason: an anti-lockdown song "Stand and Deliver" — penned by iconic vocalist Van Morrison and recorded and released by Clapton.

As you might imagine the guitarist took a lot of grief from the left over the tune — as did Morrison.

Stand and Deliver by Eric Clapton - Music from The state51 Conspiracy youtu.be

In the letter, Clapton said "I found my voice" after being directed to Morrison and his new music, the magazine reported.

"And even though I was singing his words, they echoed in my heart," Clapton added in his letter, according to Rolling Stone. "I recorded 'Stand and Deliver' in 2020 and was immediately regaled with contempt and scorn."

The magazine noted that Clapton said in a statement last December that accompanied the song: "There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration. We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover."

According to Rolling Stone, Clapton also wrote in his letter that "I've been a rebel all my life, against tyranny and arrogant authority, which is what we have now. But I also crave fellowship, compassion and love… I believe with these things we can prevail."

Anything else?

Last September, a Northern Ireland health minister labeled Morrison's anti-lockdown songs "dangerous." His tunes — "Born to Be Free," "As I Walked Out," and "No More Lockdown" — reportedly targeted the U.K. government for using COVID-19 lockdowns to "enslave" the people.

And he wasn't through by a long shot.

"Remember, those who are shutting down our economy haven't missed a paycheck since lockdown began," Morrison tweeted to his nearly 66,000 followers in December before adding a mocking zinger. "We are not in this together."