Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

How many applications for the VITT complication of the COVID-19 vaccine have been made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme?

1. How many were successful? Of the unsuccessful ones, what was the reason for rejecting the applications

2. Diagnosis was not considered to be VITT

3. Applicant was not 60% or more disabled

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 8 October 2024.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

Our response

All data as of 30 September 2024.

All data relates to claims received by the NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) and those transferred from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) on 1 November 2021. All figures provided relate to COVID-19 vaccines. 

Question 1 and 3

How many applications for the VITT complication of the COVID-19 vaccine have been made to the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme?

1. How many were successful? Of the unsuccessful ones, what was the reason for rejecting the applications

2. Applicant was not 60% or more disabled

The claimant can tell us what happened after vaccination on the claim form. At the medical assessment stage, the independent medical assessor provides a description of the assessed conditions they have been able to identify from the claimant's medical records. This can sometimes be a mixture of conditions. The condition recorded against each claim may therefore be different to the condition initially stated by the claimant on their original claim form.

All data provided relates to the conditions listed by the independent medical assessor in the assessment report.

176 medical assessment reports contain the search term VITT.

Of the 176, 89 medical assessment reports are in relation to a claim that met the criteria to receive a Vaccine Damage Payment. The remaining 87 medical assessment reports did not meet the criteria for a Vaccine Damage Payment. This is because:

• 30 claims were unsuccessful because the independent medical assessor recommended that, on the balance of probabilities, the vaccine did not cause the disability in question (causation)

• 57 claims were unsuccessful because, although the claims met the criteria for causation, the independent medical assessor recommended that the vaccine has not caused severe disablement

Under the VDPS, severe disablement means at least 60% disabled, based on Schedule 2 of The Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982. This is under ‘Guidance the medical assessor uses’ heading in the below link:

https://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/vaccine-damage-payment-scheme-vdps-claim-process

Question 2

1. Diagnosis was not considered to be VITT

The independent medical assessor looks at the claim form, full medical records, clinical research, epidemiological evidence, and the current consensus of expert medical opinion. The assessor will advise if you are entitled to a Vaccine Damage Payment, based on whether:

• the vaccine, on the balance of probabilities, caused the disability

• the resulting disablement is severe

Under the VDPS, severe disablement means at least 60% disabled, based on Schedule 2 of The Social Security (General Benefit) Regulations 1982.

The independent medical assessor does not diagnose conditions or change a diagnosis.

Publishing this response

Please note that this information will be published on our Freedom of Information disclosure log at:

https://opendata.nhsbsa.net/dataset/foi-02289

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http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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