An American woman who took part in the clinical trial for AstraZeneca‘s Covid vaccine is suing the company, claiming it left her ‘permanently disabled’ — according to reports.
Brianne Dressen, 42 and a former teacher from Utah, volunteered for the trial in 2020 to ‘do her bit’ and help beat the pandemic virus.
But within days of receiving the jab she developed a severe neurological condition, and was hospitalized with a severe sensation of pins and needles across her body.
The mother-of-two has since quit her job because of the pain and become a ‘shadow of her former self’ — with the pain leaving her unable to look after her young boys like she used to or even drive a few blocks.
She is suing AstraZeneca claiming a breach of contract, saying they have failed to cover her medical bills running into tens of thousands of dollars for the side effect.
Her case is thought to be the first of its kind in the US, where the British-made AstraZeneca jab was never approved. There are also more than 50 cases in the UK.
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/14/13/84846721-13416585-image-m-26_1715691233587.jpg)
Brianne Dressen, 42 and a former teacher, is suing AstraZeneca after taking part in their Covid vaccine trial. She said their jab left her ‘permanently disabled’
![Ms Dressen said the worst part about her illness is that her children do not remember what she was like beforehand](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/14/13/84846515-13416585-image-a-3_1715690934825.jpg)
Ms Dressen said the worst part about her illness is that her children do not remember what she was like beforehand
‘This thing took me out of my job — I’m still permanently disabled,’ she told the UK’s Telegraph.
‘I still have that horrific nightmare of the pins and needles sensation coursing through my body, head to toe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’
But the worst impact of the illness has been that on my children, she added, who are now nine and eleven.
‘They don’t remember who I was before, already. It really sucks.
‘The worst part, the biggest punishment of all of this, is the impact on my kids.’
Ms Dressen was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy — a condition that causes numbness and pain due to damaged nerves.
Doctors classified her condition as a ‘post-vaccine neuropathy’ because of its links to the jab.
Previous studies have already linked this condition to the Covid vaccines, although they stress it only occurs in rare cases.
One paper published last year in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports found a ‘greater than expected’ occurrence of the condition among those who received Covid vaccines — but concluded the evidence was not strong enough to recommend the vaccine be withdrawn.
In her legal complaint, filed in a court in Utah, she says she has become ‘a shadow of her former self’.
‘[I am]unable to work, unable to do any athletic activity, unable to parent the way she had, and unable to drive more than a few blocks at a time,’ the filing adds.
![She is suing AstraZeneca for a breach of contract, saying they have failed to cover medical costs for a side effect as previously agreed](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/14/13/84846517-13416585-image-a-4_1715690972021.jpg)
She is suing AstraZeneca for a breach of contract, saying they have failed to cover medical costs for a side effect as previously agreed
![Ms Dressen is pictured above with her children](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/14/13/84846503-13416585-image-m-8_1715690986037.jpg)
![And pictured above here online](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2024/05/14/13/84846505-13416585-image-a-9_1715690989906.jpg)
Ms Dressen is pictured above including with her children
Before receiving the vaccine in the trial, Ms Dressen claims she signed an agreement with the company that promised it would ‘pay the costs of medical treatment for research injuries, provided that the costs are reasonable, and you did not cause the injury yourself’.
But she says that ever since the severe sensations emerged across her body after receiving the jab, AstraZeneca has refused to cover her care.
She has medical and legal bills that run into tens of thousands of dollars, and has refused a small payout offered by the company that would have limited its liability in a lawsuit.
Utah law allows those who sue for breach of contract to claim for costs resulting from the breach and for damages — which could result in a significant payout for Ms Dressen.
The US trial of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine involved 32,000 people and found that the jab was 79 percent effective at preventing a symptomatic Covid infection.
America initially reserved tens of millions of doses of the jab, but the FDA never gave the green light for these to be used.
This has in part been blamed on communication problems between the company and regulators, with officials saying AstraZeneca was slow to disclose information.
Its initial trial was also delayed by seven weeks in the US because of a delay in the company providing information to the FDA that showed their jab was not associated with neurological symptoms that had appeared in two trial participants.
A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said the company would not comment on ongoing litigation.
She said: “Patient safety is our highest priority. From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.’
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]