An Australian dad whose Covid vaccine left him with a crippling injury that forced him to quit his ‘dream job’ has blasted the government’s treatment of those who suffered adverse reactions to the jab.
Chris Nemeth, 51, worked in airline logistics until he got the AstraZeneca vaccine in July 2021 and developed chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIPD) which can cause numbness, pain and even paralysis in the limbs.
His thorough 1,000-page submission to the Covid-19 Vaccine Claims Scheme, including documentation from a GP and a specialist attributing the permanent condition to his Covid shot, took more than 455 days to be assessed.
Mr Nemeth said the scheme, which was established to provide support for those who did their bit and got vaccinated but were injured, was a bureaucratic nightmare.
The Melburnian, who takes medication for his pain as well as IV immunoglobulin infusion therapy in hospital every three weeks, warned there could be ‘suicides’ because the process under the claims scheme was so arduous.
‘I had to learn to walk again, I still have constant neuropathy in both hands and feet – tingling, burning, pins and needles – fatigue, my brain doesn’t work the way it did… the neurologist said this is as well as I’m likely to get,’ he told Daily Mail Australia.
Despite not being able to work since 2021 and with a family to support he said he was made to jump through hoops by the claims scheme with his application repeatedly bounced back for more information or external legal reviews.
Mr Nemeth said he was only this month offered a settlement for his claim but has not revealed the exact figure.
Chris Nemeth suffered chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIPD) a form of Guillain-Barré syndrome after the AstraZeneca vaccine and requires IV immunoglobulin infusion every three weeks
The scheme which is administered by Services Australia for the Health Department has paid out $29.8million in total to 378 successful applications but another 663 are still being assessed.
A government spokesman said the scheme ends on September 30 but all applications received before then will continue to be processed.
Mr Nemeth said the scheme needs to be reviewed because once it closes ‘there will be no support’.
‘I was paralysed form the waist down for six months, then graduated to a walking frame and cane.
‘My gait has been altered, I have to think about it (walking) it’s like driving an automatic car and switching to a manual car.
‘It changes everything about your life.’
The world’s largest Covid-19 vaccine study released earlier this year found there were potential links between the AstraZeneca vaccine and some medical conditions but these were rare and far outweighed by the benefits.
The research from Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) and published in Vaccine, used an electronic database to leverage large amounts of data to evaluate Covid vaccine safety.
The largest study of its kind involved more than 99 million people from Australia, Argentina, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, New Zealand and Scotland.
Mr Nemeth said the scheme, which was established to provide support for those who did their bit and got vaccinated but were injured, was a bureaucratic nightmare
The analysis found vaccine safety signals were warranted for myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (swelling of the thin sac covering the heart) after mRNA vaccines.
A potential link to Guillain-Barré syndrome (where the immune system attacks the nerves) and cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (a type of blood clot in the brain) was associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The research also found a new signal for acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (inflammation and swelling in the brain and spinal cord) that the researchers said warranted further investigation.
‘The findings translated to an extremely small risk with any potential link needing to be weighed against the well-established protective benefits of vaccination against Covid,’ lead researcher Professor Jim Buttery said.
Daily Mail Australia has contacted AstraZeneca, Services Australia and the Therapeutic Goods Administration via the Health Department for comment.
