An NHS nurse in the UK has been denied compensation despite being permanently damaged by a COVID vaccine during a trial.
Marie-Claire Hoyle, who volunteered for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine trial in 2020 developed transverse myelitis two weeks after her second dose, temporarily shutting down the global trial.
The qualified advanced nurse practitioner and NHS England’s network manager for high-consequence infectious diseases, lost the use of her hands, became numb from collarbone to thigh, and still carries permanent spinal cord damage visible on MRI. The Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme acknowledged the vaccine caused her condition yet refused the £120,000 one-off payment because her disability improved below the rigid 60% lifelong threshold.
Hoyle that’s related how she was on shift when pain hit her neck and spine, spreading within an hour into her shoulders and hands. “I lost the ability to use my hands, I couldn’t hold a pen, I couldn’t hold a toothbrush. I was completely numb from my collarbone down to my thigh level because the signals from my spine and brain had been damaged.”
An MRI confirmed transverse myelitis. The trial paused worldwide while her case was assessed; she survived and recovered enough for it to resume. Permanent damage remains. “I’ve had an MRI since and there is still damage in my spinal cord, which will never heal. I have really poor grip in my fingertips, so I constantly drop things. I still have nerve pain down the left side of my arm and numbness across my central chest and that will never resolve,” she further stated.
She received a high five-figure out-of-court settlement from Oxford University. The VDPS, however, ruled she no longer qualified. “They acknowledged that the vaccine caused my transverse myelitis, based on the evidence I supplied with all my medical records, and at the time I was seriously harmed on a value of up to 60%. However, they said: ‘You aren’t now, so you don’t need the payment.'”
Hoyle, a mother of three who later had her youngest vaccinated and says she continues to support vaccines in principle, wants a scalable system matching actual ongoing harm rather than an all-or-nothing cutoff.
AstraZeneca later withdrew its Vaxzevria vaccine worldwide in 2024, officially citing commercial reasons and the shift to updated formulations. The company had already admitted in court documents that the shot can cause thrombosis with thrombocytopenia syndrome. Kate Scott, whose husband was left with permanent brain injury, said the decision looked less commercial and more like recognition that the product no longer sat “within the acceptable safety parameters,” given 445 confirmed VITT cases and 81 deaths in the UK alone. The company maintained the vaccine had saved over 6.5 million lives in its first year.
