Dusseldorf 150,000 euros in damages. This is what a 42-year-old dentist from Mainz demands from the pharmaceutical company Astra-Zeneca. She has been deaf in her right ear since a blood clot formed in her ear after a corona vaccination two years ago. She can no longer practice her profession, says the dentist.
According to information from the Handelsblatt, the case will be heard on Monday before the Mainz Regional Court. It is the first oral hearing against a vaccine manufacturer. And is thus the prelude to a wave of processes that will roll over Astra-Zeneca, Biontech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson in the summer.
After all, the case of the dentist from Mainz is just one of many. The number of lawsuits that will be heard in the coming weeks is in the three-digit range. Most of these are likely to affect Biontech, because the drug Comirnaty, which Biontech and the US company Pfizer developed together, was administered in three quarters of all vaccinations in Germany.
But the lawsuits also affect the other three manufacturers of corona vaccines, who, like Biontech, developed vaccines at high speed during the pandemic and brought them to market.
It usually takes years before a new drug comes onto the market and patients can use it. The clinical studies on the effectiveness and safety of drugs alone take years. In the pandemic, manufacturers developed their vaccines in less than a year.
That is why they have come to an agreement with the European Medicines Agency: Liability claims made by vaccinated people are not paid by the manufacturers, but by the respective governments. For the pharmaceutical companies, the financial impact of the lawsuits should therefore be limited. But their reputation could suffer badly.
“Around ten lawsuits are added every week”
Two proceedings against Astra-Zeneca in Germany have already been rejected, but the plaintiffs appealed. The first trial against the mRNA vaccine manufacturer Biontech should have started two weeks ago, but the start of the trial was postponed at short notice. The reason: a bias against the judge. It is not yet clear when the process will begin.
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But Biontech will soon have to go to court for the first time. The first trial in Germany against the company at the Rottweil District Court will start on July 3rd. Lawyer Joachim Caesar-Preller, who also represents the lawyer from Mainz, says he is suing in 180 cases. “We get about 10 lawsuits a week,” he says.
Out-of-court settlements and compensation?
Caesar Preller’s real goal is to reach an out-of-court settlement. In some cases this has already been achieved, he says. “For example, some large vaccination companies have already paid damages,” he writes on his website. He does not want to comment more precisely, the parties have agreed not to disclose anything.
Only this much: He did not speak out of court with the two manufacturers Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson, who would have “totally blocked”. Biontech and Moderna did not want to comment on possible out-of-court settlements when asked.
A wave of lawsuits could come to the pharmaceutical companies.
(Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images)
Such an agreement gives his clients faster and clearer results – without them having to go through a long process. “The processes will be a long, rocky road, you don’t get anything for free – and certainly not from the vaccine manufacturers,” says Caesar-Preller.
“Biontech would meet legitimate claims”
“Have you been vaccinated with Biontech-Pfizer or Moderna and have you been suffering from massive vaccination side effects for more than six months?” It says on the website of the law firm Rogert & Ulbrich. The law firm also advertises there with “free advice”. The firm represents more than 1,500 clients and has filed 300 lawsuits.
The vaccine manufacturers do not want to comment on ongoing procedures, but express their sympathy for the patients affected. Biontech points out that each case should be considered individually. A dedicated team from the specialist department for drug safety is “carefully checking all the information made available to us,” says a spokeswoman: “Biontech would meet legitimate claims.”
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The claims are justified if a causal connection between the vaccination and the health impairment can be proven and there is a “negative benefit-risk ratio”. Or if the package insert does not correspond to the latest scientific findings. In the cases examined by Biontech so far, “no vaccine-associated connection has been found”.
Biontech, Moderna, Astra-Zeneca and Johnson & Johnson appear to have little fear of the wave of lawsuits: none of the companies have set aside provisions on their balance sheets for any compensation for vaccine victims. Probably also because of the agreements in the EU that the countries – and ultimately the taxpayers – accept possible liability claims.
The pharmaceutical companies do not want to comment on how concrete these agreements look like, whether the countries will take over in any case or whether there are exceptions. Also not about whether the regulation also applies to out-of-court settlements.
Even in the USA, where there are traditionally a lot of complaints, the manufacturers don’t have to worry. Until the end of 2024, they will have “immunity” there, which rejects all claims. According to Moderna’s annual report, aggrieved persons could still “file a claim of ‘willful misconduct’ under certain circumstances.” Three lawsuits against Pfizer in the USA have apparently already been dismissed in the first instance.
Meanwhile, Astra-Zeneca is not only struggling in Germany with processes like the one before the Mainz Regional Court. Patients also want to be compensated in Great Britain, where the British-Swedish company is headquartered: 75 plaintiffs have joined forces there and want to prove under British consumer protection law that the vaccine was “defective”.
Actually, the families did not want to pursue any lawsuits, says lawyer Sarah Moore. “They would prefer Astra-Zeneca to recognize their losses and injuries and pay them fair compensation.”
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