A father says he has been ‘left to rot’ after having a nightmare reaction to a Covid jab that has left him in constant pain.
Larry Lowe, from Northern Ireland, had thought he was doing his public duty when he got the Pfizer booster jab in December 2021.
As a fit and healthy 54-year-old who ran 10km most days and had previously had the vaccine, the amateur musician had no real concerns about having the booster shot.
However, just days after being injected with the vaccine he developed nightmarish symptoms including numbness in the right side of his face and excruciating pain.
And while Mr Lowe initially thought this might be temporary, things have got worse over the last two years with the pain spreading and increasing to such an extent that he has been forced to retire on medical grounds.
Despite their best efforts, doctors have told him he is unlikely to ever fully recover, with one consultant laying the blame for his symptoms at the door of the Covid jab.
Larry Lowe ,pictured here in hospital, says side effects from the Covid booster jab have ruined his life
Mr Lowe, pictured here after a fun run, says he was fit and healthy before the jab but can now barely walk as he in so much pain
Experts have said that the benefits of taking the Covid vaccine outweigh the side effects, as it prevents the spread of the disease and serious complications while many people receive mild side effects at worst from the jab.
These side effects include tenderness in your arm where the injection took place, feeling tired, having a headache and general flu-like symptoms.
However, Britons who have suffered severe side effects from the Covid vaccine have already been paid £20million by the government for their injuries it was revealed earlier this year.
Mr Lowe is one of those who has suffered these severe side effects – he has now been left in excruciating pain that is sometimes so bad he lies in bed screaming and crying at night.
Mr Lowe, who is not opposed to vaccines, was told the vaccine is being treated by his body as a ‘toxin’ by medics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London, leading to the pain he now feels.
It was a body blow that left him in tears and one he is still reeling from years later.
‘My wife and I were sitting in this little room in Westminster with about seven or eight consultants telling me the vaccine had destroyed the nerve on the right side of my face, and it was highly unlikely that I would ever recover from it,’ he told the BBC.
In April this year he was diagnosed by consultant neurologist with ‘painful trigeminal neuropathy’, a condition that leaves people with numbness or pain in their head and facial area due to nerve damage.
He has also developed small fibre sensory neuropathy which has affected his entire body from his head to his toes.
Mr Lowe was told that the trigeminal neuropathy had ‘the Covid vaccine as its main causative factor’, while the small fibre sensory neuropathy was ‘also one of the post-vaccine related neurological presentations’.
Mr Lowe said the last three years have ‘destroyed me’ and he is fearful of the future because ‘it’s getting worse’.
The Omagh resident told the BBC: ‘I didn’t ask for this. I took the vaccine in good faith. I’ve just been left to just rot.’
He said that while the GP and medics trying to help him were ‘fantastic’, the pain he was in meant his life was ‘barely worth living, except for my family’.
Mr Lowe, pictured here on the day he got the Covid booster jab in December 2021, says the pain from the vaccine as ‘destroyed me’
After being given the Pfizer Covid booster Mr Lowe developed numbness in his face and pain around his body, which has not subsided in the three years since. Pictured: A syringe is filled with the Pfizer Covid vaccine in October 2021
Mr Lowe said is former life of being in a band, playing guitar and enjoying the world is ‘just a memory’ and that ‘I’m not me anymore’.
He now wants people to be open about Covid vaccine injuries, adding that he has no problem with jabs that are tried and tested.
He said: ‘Vaccines are fine, not for me, they’ve destroyed me.
‘I want someone to recognise that the vaccine has done this.’
The Public Health Agency in Northern Ireland says that side effects can occur when taking all vaccines and medications.
Dr Louise Heron, deputy director of public health at the PHA, told MailOnline: ‘Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children against ill health. It prevents millions of deaths worldwide every year.
‘All vaccines and medicines can have some side effects, although not everybody gets them.
‘The most common side effects of the COVID-19 vaccine are mild and get better within a week. As with all vaccines and medicines, the safety of COVID-19 vaccines is being continually monitored.
‘The benefits of the vaccines in preventing COVID-19 and serious complications associated with it far outweigh any currently known side effects in the majority of patients.’
Medicines and vaccines are monitored by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
It states that vaccination is the most effective way to reduce deaths and severe illness from Covid.
A spokesperson for Pfizer told MailOnline: ‘Patient safety is paramount and we take any reports of adverse events very seriously.
‘Adverse event reports do not imply causality, and in the context of vaccination such events may be unrelated to administration of the vaccine.
‘Hundreds of millions of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been administered globally and the benefit-risk profile of the vaccine remains positive for all authorised indications and age groups.
‘As with every medicine and vaccine, including the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer has robust processes to meet its regulatory responsibilities to closely monitor, report and analyse all adverse events, and collect relevant information to assess any new potential safety risks that may be associated with the COVID-19 vaccine.
‘In addition to our pharmacovigilance efforts and compliance with regulatory requirements related to quality and safety, we also work with regulatory authorities around the world as they independently monitor the safety profile of our vaccine.
‘Patients who receive the COVID-19 vaccine should talk to their doctor, pharmacist or nurse if they have any concerns or experience any side effects. This includes any possible side effects not listed in the package leaflet. Side effects can be reported directly via the Yellow Card Scheme at http://www.mhra.gov.uk/yellowcard.’
Data acquired under the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year showed 168 people had been told they are eligible for the Vaccine Damage Payment, a £120,000 tax-free sum, due to injuries from a Covid jab
Data acquired under the Freedom of Information Act earlier this year shows 168 people in Britain have received payouts for severe side effects from the vaccine.
Those impacted were told they were eligible for the Vaccine Damage Payment – a £120,000 tax-free sum – due to injuries from the jab, bringing the total figure up to £20million.
Almost all of these are related the AstraZeneca vaccine, which triggered a blood clotting complication that was so rare it was missed in original clinical trials.
Another 592 claims are waiting for an outcome, meaning the bill could rise closer to the £100million mark, if they are accepted.
More than 11,000 claims had been made by April this year – double the number submitted in the previous year.
However, the vast majority have been rejected.
While some were due to victims being unable to be prove their injuries were caused by a vaccine, at least 324 applicants were told it was because their injury did not meet a 60 per cent severe disability threshold.
This means that even though their injury is accepted to have been caused by a jab, they won’t see a penny. This is even if they are assessed by a medic as being 59 per cent disabled.
The 60 per cent threshold, which covers injuries like losing a limb, a sense like your sight, or complete paralysis, is one of many criticisms of the scheme.
MailOnline has contacted Pfizer and the MHRA for comment.
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