Britain’s Covid vaccine injury bill has already surpassed £12million, MailOnline can reveal today amid an ongoing legal fight.
Dozens have been killed or left disabled by jabs deployed during the pandemic.
Under current rules, victims of certain vaccines, including ones used to beat Covid, are entitled to a one-off sum of £120,000 from the Government.
At least 105 claims for the state-funded, financial support have now been approved, taking the total bill so far to £12.6million.
Dozens more injured or bereaved Brits could still be accepted to get the hand-out in the coming months, however.
Just 78 claims had been approved for the £120,000 sum as of the end of April, data released under a Freedom of Information request (FOI) revealed.
It means that Britain’s total vaccine injury bill has risen by around £3.2million within the space of roughly a month.
Tory MPs want the £120,000 sum to be raised in ‘real terms’, in line with inflation.
Politicians are also demanding the axing of strict criteria that means people have to be at least ’60 per cent disabled’ to get the cash.
However, MailOnline can reveal that ministers ruled out adopting either change in a behind-closed-doors meeting with campaigners.
The UK’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, launched in 1979, is meant to reassure people that — in the extremely unlikely event something goes wrong — the state will provide them financial support.
It covers an array of vaccines recommended by the Government, including measles, mumps and rubella.
Health minister Maria Caulfield this week told the Covid Vaccine Damage All-Party Parliamentary Group that, as of May, 5,738 applications had been submitted to the scheme.
Nearly 2,000 have been assessed, with 105 successful, she said.
The successful claims cover those affected by vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia and thrombosis (VITT), the major complication that spooked health chiefs across the world.
Others developed Guillain-Barre syndrome or suffered other blood clots.
Ms Caulfield, however, confirmed the Government currently has ‘no plans’ to raise the £120,000 sum.
She told the meeting: ‘We’re not planning to change the amount at the moment but I take the point on board.’
Strict eligibility criteria means those affected must either have been killed or be left 60 per cent disabled due to a vaccine.
This means a person theoretically judged to be only 59 per cent disabled will not get a penny.
The extent of a person’s disability is based on an assessment by a doctor and can include both physical disablement, such as the loss of a limb, or mental disablement such as a decline cognitive function.
It also means there is no escalation of the sum received.
Read More: Covid vaccine injury bill tops £12MILLION
