42-year-old Utah teacher is suing AstraZeneca, claiming she was permanently disabled by the Covid vaccine – in the first lawsuit of its kind in the US

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 lawsuit in 2020 to “do her part” and help defeat the pandemic virus.

But within days of receiving the jab, she developed a serious neurological condition and was admitted to hospital with an intense feeling of pins and needles throughout her body.

The mother-of-two has since quit her job due to the pain and has become a “shadow of her former self” – with the pain meaning she can no longer care for her young boys like she used to, or even drive a few blocks.

She is suing AstraZeneca for breach of contract, saying they have failed to pay her medical bills that run into the tens of thousands of dollars because of the side effect.

Her case is believed to be the first of its kind in the US, where Britain’s AstraZeneca jab was never approved. There are also more than 50 cases in Britain.

Mrs. Dressen said the worst part of her illness is that her children don’t remember what she was like before

“This thing has taken me out of my job – I’m still permanently disabled,” she told the British newspaper Telegraph.

‘I still have that horrible nightmare of the tingling sensation that runs through my body, from head to toe, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.’

But the worst effects of the disease are on my children, she added, who are now nine and 11.

‘They already don’t know who I used to be anymore. It really sucks.

“The worst thing, the biggest punishment of all this, is the impact on my children.”

Mrs 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 link to the jab.

Previous studies have already linked this condition to the Covid vaccines, although they emphasize that this only occurs in rare cases.

A paper published last year in Current Neurology and Neuroscience Reports found the condition was ‘higher than expected’ among those given Covid vaccines – but concluded the evidence was not strong enough to recommend withdrawing the vaccine .

In her legal complaint, filed in a Utah court, she says she has become “a shadow of her former self.”

“(I am) unable to work, unable to do any athletic activity, unable to age like them, and unable to drive more than a few blocks at a time,” the filing adds to.

She is suing AstraZeneca for breach of contract, saying they failed to cover medical costs for an adverse event as previously agreed

Mrs. 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 promising that it would “pay the costs of medical treatment for research injuries, provided the costs are reasonable and that you do not injure yourself.” yourself caused’.

But she says AstraZeneca has refused to cover her care since the severe sensations came over her body after receiving the jab.

She has medical bills running into the thousands of dollars, and has refused a small payout offered by the company that would have limited her liability in a lawsuit.

Utah law allows those suing for breach of contract to recover costs arising from the breach and seek damages – which could result in a significant payout for Ms. Dressen.

A spokesperson for AstraZeneca said the company would not comment on pending litigation.

She said: “Patient safety is our top priority. The body of evidence from clinical trials and real-world data consistently shows that the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has 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. .’