Coroner Confirms Earliest Known UK Death From AstraZeneca Vaccine

AstraZeneca COVID-19 Coronavirus Vaccine and a syringe are seen in front of a displayed AstraZeneca logo, in this illustration photo taken on March 14, 2021. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)

A coroner formally has officially recorded that the likely cause of Dr. Stephen Wright’s death was the AstraZeneca vaccine, making him potentially the first person in the UK to have died from the vaccine, according to his wife.

More than two years after 32-year-old Stephen Wright, an NHS psychologist in south-east London, died, an inquest has ruled that it was after taking the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.

Stephen Wright’s wife Charlotte Wright has been fighting to try to get the “natural causes” wording on her husband’s death certificate changed.

On Wednesday, the London Inner South Southwark Coroners Court confirmed that the death was due to “unintended consequences of vaccination.”

VITT

The report noted that Wright was a “fit and healthy man who had an AstraZeneca COVID vaccination” on Jan. 16, 2021, awoke with a headache on Jan. 25, 2021, and later developed “left arm numbness.”

“He attended an A&E department just after midnight where he was found to have high blood pressure and a sagittal sinus venous thrombosis. He was transferred to Kings College Hospital at 06.39 but due to the extent of the bleed and very low platelets, was unfit for surgery, dying at 18.33,” it said.

It named the cause of death VITT (Vaccine Induced Thrombosis and Thrombocytopenia) as a direct result of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Charlotte Wright said he was the first person in the UK to die from the AstraZeneca vaccine. His two young sons were aged seven and one at the time.

The Epoch Times has not been able to independently verify that he is the first person in the UK to die from the AstraZeneca vaccine. Before he died, he was due to start work as a senior clinical psychologist at Great Ormond Street.

Charlotte Wright told The Epoch Times that after her husband’s death, she was told by authorities that they had noticed abnormalities with the case and that “they had never seen a stroke like it before.”

She added that “we weren’t listened to after he died.”

“I think the main thing I feel is relief, however, unfortunately, I don’t think I'll get any closure until I have direct answers from AstraZeneca and the government,” she added.

VDPS

The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) is a one-off tax-free payment of £120,000 if someone is proven to have been severely disabled or has died as a result of vaccination from diseases such as measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR), swine flu, and more. In December 2020, ministers agreed to add COVID-19 to the scheme.

Wright said that she was awarded the payment last August, which took 16 months.

Peter Todd, a consultant solicitor with Scott-Moncrieff & Associates, has initiated a claim against AstraZeneca under the Consumer Protection Act 1987, representing Charlotte Wright and her children as well as dozens of others who say that their loved ones suffered severe reactions or died after taking the vaccine.

The legal team is seeking personal injury compensation from AstraZeneca, claiming that the vaccine was “not as safe as the public were entitled to expect.”

Todd told The Epoch Times that it “remains to be seen whether AstraZeneca will be disputing that the vaccine was the cause of his death.”

“Even if they do not dispute this, I anticipate they will still be disputing civil liability for his death. That is a question of law for the court to determine in due course,” he added.

Todd previously told The Epoch Times that the UK government had “agreed in the procurement contract of the vaccine to indemnify AstraZeneca against any liability of this kind, so we ask the government to do the right thing and to support people who were vaccinated and help them cope with the devastating consequence of their life changing injuries.”

“Strict time limits apply to such claims so anyone who thinks they may have been affected in a similar way should get in touch,” he added.

Legal Indemnity

In the UK, the Moderna, AstraZeneca, and Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines have been approved for use. All three have legal indemnity protecting the companies from being sued for damages.

An AstraZeneca spokesperson told The Epoch Times by email: “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,” he added.

He said that “from the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, Vaxzevria 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.”

“The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) granted conditional marketing approval for Vaxzevria for the UK based on the safety profile and efficacy of the vaccine,” he added.