They have been vaccinated against covid, they claim that their vaccines caused serious side effects and they are asking for compensation: today the first trial against her begins in Germany BioNTechof the German laboratory which developed together with Pfizer one of the vaccines against covid-19.

In late 2021, an unprecedented large-scale vaccination campaign began against the coronavirus, which caused a global pandemic that confined millions of people to their homes for months and paralyzed the global economy.

According to the European Medicines Agency (EMA), during the first year of the pandemic it is estimated that vaccines against covid they helped save nearly 20 million lives.

But some people claim that it negatively affected their health.

A few hundred appeals have been filed in Germanywith a request to recognize the relationship between vaccination and the occurrence of various pathologies.

Today a court in Hamburg will be the first to consider the lawsuit of a German woman who is seeking compensation for the damages she claims she suffered from the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine.

“Strokes and blood clots”.

The plaintiff, who has asked not to be identified, says she has been suffering from “upper body pain, swelling in the extremities, fatigue, exhaustion and trouble sleeping” after being vaccinated with the covid vaccine.

Problems that “negatively affect the work” of this woman, a doctor who works in a hospital and “can no longer work as many hours” as before her vaccination, according to her lawyer Tobias Ulrich.

He is seeking compensation of at least 150,000 euros.

Ulrich — who says he represents 250 plaintiffs, all of whom were “healthy” before developing symptoms they attribute to the covid vaccines — added that more trials are expected to begin in the coming months.

“The symptoms are very different, from strokes to clots and heart problems,” notes Joachim Cesar-Preller, another German lawyer who represents 140 people who have filed similar appeals.

Of the 129 million vaccines administered in Germany, the scientific institute Paul Ehrlich received 338,857 complaints of suspected side effects, among them 54,879 serious cases.

The BioNTech laboratory explains that at this stage “in the cases examined, no causal relationship between the health problems described and vaccination has been demonstrated”.

However, the company assures that it “assumes its responsibilities” and “examines each case separately, carefully, based on the available information”.

“Long way”

The occurrence of side effects after the covid vaccination is something that the medical community in Germany takes seriously, with some hospitals having set up special clinics.

The legal path to establishing a causal link between vaccines and the health problems some people experience is “a long road full of obstacles,” Cesar-Preller admits.

Under German law, manufacturers of drugs or vaccines are obliged to pay compensation for any side effects if “medical science” proves that their products cause harm disproportionate to their benefits, or if the information on the packaging is incorrect.

Consequently, the side effects would have to be “severe” enough to be considered, explains Anatole Dutta, professor of law at the University of Munich.

One plaintiff, Kathryn K. age 45, believes that her symptoms are indeed quite severe. She claims she lost “25kg in ten days” after getting her covid vaccination and had to undergo multiple bowel operations. “I hate being told I’m an isolated case, I’m not,” he emphasizes.

“I recommend to my clients to make a diary, write there the development of their symptoms and ask a doctor to write them down, it’s very important,” explained Ania Dornhoff, another lawyer who deals with these cases, who wants people who say they suffer side effects from vaccines to be “taken seriously”.