A compensation plan could be established for thousands of people who were disabled by the AstraZeneca blow

He pharmaceutical giant is being sued in a class-action lawsuit over claims that the vaccine, developed with the University of Oxford, caused death and serious injury in dozens of cases. The Government has indemnified AstraZeneca against any legal action, but has so far refused to intervene.

Sir Jeremy Wright MP, the shadow attorney general, attended the meeting with Streeting and VIBUK last month and has another follow-up meeting with him scheduled for the coming weeks.

“The two options are to reform the VDPS and also establish a customized compensation plan,” he said. “But it is not an option for the government to bury its head in the sand and do nothing.

“If you are a very small minority of those injured (by the Covid vaccine), those people have a right to expect the State to care for them properly – they were just doing what the State asked them to do.”

More than 15,000 people have requested compensation from the VDPS for alleged damage caused by Covid vaccines, according to the latest official figures.

Of the 15,804 claims made to the VDPS by people who suffered an adverse reaction to the Covid vaccine, only 188 were told they were entitled to compensation.

The figures, which were released by the Government following freedom of information requests, show that the vast majority of successful applications relate to the AstraZeneca vaccine and fewer than five relate to Pfizer and Moderna.