Children who may have been brain damaged by whooping cough vaccine have renewed hope of winning compensation for their injuries.
The Legal Aid Board the body which administers the legal aid scheme has reversed an earlier decision not to grant funding for victims to pursue their claims against the vaccine manufacturers in court.
The board stopped funding these cases following the Loveday case in l988, in which the judge ruled there was no proof that the whooping cough vaccine could cause brain damage. The growing body of evidence on causation has forced the board to reconsider and although there’s still a long way to go, victims at least now have a fighting chance.