Around three years after the start of vaccination against the coronavirus, permanent vaccination-related health damage has so far been recognized in 125 people in Bavaria. In addition, 151 lawsuits are pending before the social courts against the Free State of Bavaria, with which those affected are defending themselves against a rejected decision. This was compiled by the Bavarian Family and Social Center (ZBFS) in Bayreuth as of December 20, 2023.
The proceedings before the social chambers concern state pension benefits. There, 12 lawsuits were withdrawn and in 5 cases lawsuits were dismissed by the court. At the same time, there are numerous civil lawsuits in Bavarian courts for damages and compensation for pain and suffering – the defendant in each case is the manufacturer of a corona vaccine. To date, nothing is publicly known about a legally binding decision by a civil chamber.
According to the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), almost 29.5 million vaccine doses against Covid-19 have been administered in the Free State since the start of the vaccination campaign.
What is vaccine damage? The Paul Ehrlich Institute (PEI) is responsible for the safety of vaccines in Germany. According to this, several vaccines against the coronavirus have been approved in the EU. The effectiveness of these substances has been scientifically proven. It is also known that there are often temporary reactions such as “vaccine pain” or headaches, but serious side effects are extremely rare. The Paul Ehrlich Institute sees a vaccination complication as an undesirable reaction that occurs after vaccination, which could be causally related to the vaccination and goes beyond a pure vaccination reaction.
In the narrower sense, vaccine damage is the health and economic consequence of this complication. According to the PEI, the following serious vaccination complications are known after a corona vaccination: the heart disease myocarditis/pericarditis, the sinus vein thrombosis occurring in the brain and other blood clots, facial paralysis, a muscle weakness called Guillain-Barré syndrome and the hearing loss tinnitus. According to the PEI data, they are all rare (one case per 1,000 to 10,000 vaccinations) or very rare (less than one case per 10,000 vaccinations).
“The recognized consequences of damage are predominantly in the neurological and internal medicine areas,” said ZBFS spokesman Benjamin Vrban. The damage must be permanent, i.e. at least six months. The body’s normal reactions to a vaccination, such as pain at the injection site, redness of the skin or fatigue, are not permanent damage. “If someone experiences such a side effect after a vaccination, this does not trigger a claim for compensation and should not be reported to us.”
A true cause-and-effect relationship must be proven
In the past three years, the ZBFS has received 2,572 applications for recognition of corona-related vaccination damage. Of these, 1,750 have already been processed. In addition to the 125 recognitions, there were 1,564 rejections and 61 withdrawals. The crux of the recognition is the question of whether the damage can really be traced back to the vaccination.
Applications for compensation are rejected, for example, if the health problem cannot be causally attributed to the vaccination with the necessary probability – i.e. if there is more evidence against it than for it. It may be that there is a purely coincidental temporal connection between a vaccination and the occurrence of a health disorder, without there being a real cause-and-effect relationship.
If there is permanent damage to their health, those affected are entitled to compensation – depending on the severity, this can be a basic pension of 164 to 854 euros per month. According to Vrban, additional benefits are possible, depending on the damage caused by the vaccination and the economic circumstances of the person affected. In addition, there could be medical and medical treatment services such as speech therapy and the provision of aids such as a special bed.