Facebook image promoting vaccine damage payments scheme is not an official government poster

A post on Facebook shows what looks like a government poster, which says “Have you noticed your health declining since receiving the Covid-19 injection? If you weren’t made fully aware of the risks from the Covid-19 vaccines, you are entitled to compensation of £120,000”.

While neither the Facebook post nor the image explicitly state that this is a government-produced poster, it is strongly implied. The poster is stamped with “HM Government” branding and a Gov.uk ‘crown’ logo, while the accompanying caption says: “It appears that the corrupt gangsters in Westminster are offering £120,000 of confidence, faith and belief to those who have performed GBH after taking part in their live experiment.”

The Department for Health and Social Care has confirmed to Full Fact that this isn’t an official government poster. Clues to this include the fact that the Gov.uk logo doesn’t match the current branding for government departments and the low quality nature of the graphic overall.

However, the poster includes a link to a genuine government website.

What is the vaccine damage payment scheme?

The website in question talks about the vaccine damage payment, which is an £120,000 tax-free payment that can be claimed by or on behalf of those who are “severely disabled as a result of a vaccination against certain diseases”. These diseases including Covid-19.

So although the government is not advertising the vaccine damage payment scheme using this poster or the phrasing in it, the poster points to a genuine scheme.

However, eligibility for the scheme is more limited than the poster suggests. People will not be considered simply on the grounds that they have eligible noticed their “health declining” since being vaccinated and “weren’t made fully aware of the health risks from the Covid-19 vaccines”, as the poster claims.

While there is a very small risk of serious illness following vaccination with a Covid-19 vaccine, they provide good protection against hospitalisation and death from the disease, and reduce the risk of long-term symptoms, though their effectiveness wanes over time.

And it’s important to note the vaccine damage payment scheme existed long before Covid-19 vaccines.

On 2 March 2022, health minister Maria Caulfield said: “We have not made any payments in relation to the Covid vaccine, but we are working at pace through all applications to the scheme.”