Most people think vaccines are safe but unfortunately a small percentage of vaccine recipients will suffer a reaction that sometimes is disabling or even fatal.
Many young girls in Ireland have been injured as a result of being administered the HPV vaccine which was given to protect them from cervical cancer. Many of these girls began to suffer from nausea, fainting spells and depression.
To investigate a vaccine injury case the following issues need to be considered:-
- What vaccine is involved and when and where was it administered?
- Who administered the vaccination?
- When did the first sign of symptoms being?
- What doctors or tests have been carried out since the vaccine was administered?
- What forms of consent were signed or given to you before you received the vaccine?
- Who was your GP at the time of and for three years prior to the vaccination?
- Was any physical or occupational therapies involved?
- Have any medical procedures now been carried out since you had the vaccination and have they helped at all?
It is important to understand the complex medical and scientific basis behind whether a vaccine can cause a particular injury or not. It is important to have well-qualified experts in various medical fields to examine all of the medical records and prepare a report supporting a claim for damages. The experts most frequently used are neurologists (both adult and paediatric), immunologist, haematologists, pathologist and rheumatologists.
These experts have to research the medical literature and vaccines causing injuries, provide expert reports satisfying the Irish legal test and to respond to experts produced by the Irish Government or vaccine manufacturing companies.
It is very important to immediately seek legal advice if you feel you have been injured as a result of a vaccine. Sometimes people feel that they are not being listened to by their doctors and especially in cases of young children where it can simply be put down to “teenage hormones”.
There are issues of causation, liability and contract involved in these types of cases. Insufficient warnings may have been given by the HSE to the children’s parents regarding the significant risk of injury from these vaccines.
