A CUMBRIAN woman is the first person to receive compensation over a Covid vaccine death after her partner died after having the AstraZeneca jab.

Vikki Spit, who shared a home with her fiancé Zion in Alston, was awarded the maximum settlement of £120,000 - but has argued this doesn’t go far enough.

Zion fell ill eight days after receiving the vaccine and tragically died in May 2021 – his organs would go on to help three families keep their loved ones.

“It’s an unbelievable situation, he was completely healthy, his autopsy showed zero underlying condition, it’s taken this long for a sign off his death was vaccine related even though all doctors, surgeons and neurosurgeons deemed that the case at the time,” Vikki said.  

“The hard thing is how we’ve been ignored and ridiculed, even now I have someone online saying it wasn’t the vaccine, that it was an underlying condition – I just can’t understand some people, the lack of any decency or empathy is astonishing.

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“People who think if you’re campaigning to help people who died from the vaccine, then you don’t care about people who died from covid. The majority of the people who died, the average age was 47, they were not at risk of covid, they were doing it to help others.

“The whole mentality of divide and conquer, putting people against other people, it’s horrible – the amount of people who think we’re anti-vax is also horrible,” she said.

Vikki said if the government operated with ‘honesty and transparency’ her and the group of people in a similar situation wouldn’t be have to be where they are today.

“My point is that we’ve been ignored and abused for the past year, we just want justice and proper care and support for all of those that have been affected by a vaccine,” she said.

Vikki is also calling for the scheme to be reformed to allow others who have been injured by the vaccine to receive compensation more easily, as to be eligible victims must show they have become 60 per cent disabled as a result.

“That’s a really high bar, it doesn’t take into account neurological and things like blood clots, things that aren’t that visual,” she said.

Vikki praised the group support network of VIB UK (Vaccine Injured Bereaved) for helping to make the past year bearable.

“There the most incredibly strong bunch of fighters, the support we give each other has been incredible, I don’t think anyone of us would have been in the position we are in now without the group,” she said.

READ MORE: Woman wins first vaccine compensation settlement after fiancé’s death