{"id":537458,"date":"2026-04-18T08:35:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537458\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T08:35:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T08:35:11","slug":"wife-switched-off-husbands-royal-stoke-life-support-11-days-after-covid-jab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/537458\/","title":{"rendered":"Wife switched off husband’s Royal Stoke life-support 11 days after Covid jab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now his widow is still demanding Government changesElla Pickover and Jane Kirby, Press Association and Rob Andrews<\/a> Head of Content<\/p>\n

06:00, 18 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stephen and Sheila Ward (Picture: Family Handout\/PA Wire)(Image: Family Handout\/PA Wire)<\/p>\n

A woman has described how she faced the decision of turning off her husband\u2019s life-support machine just 11 days after he received a Covid-19 jab. Stephen Ward was rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital<\/a> 10 days after getting the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine in 2021.<\/p>\n

The 57-year-old, from Newcastle-under-Lyme<\/a>, had signs of a stroke including problems with his speech and limb weakness. Stephen, who had worked for the Co-op for four decades, had developed a blood clot and medics battled to save his life.<\/p>\n

But the next day his family was told the bleed was too severe for him to survive and a decision was made to turn off his life support.<\/p>\n

Covid rules meant just 30 people were able to attend his funeral service and cremation at Carmountside Crematorium in April 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cStephen was one of those people who would help anybody do anything,\u201d his wife Sheila Ward told the Press Association. \u201cIf your car wouldn\u2019t start in the morning he would help you, if you were unwell he would mow your grass, he was just one of those community-minded people.\u201d<\/p>\n

She went on: \u201cWe had both had Covid back in the November before the vaccines were rolled out, so from our point of view there was no urgency to take the vaccine. It was just the obvious choice really \u2013 to take the vaccine to protect loves-ones, and like everyone else we wanted to get back to normal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mrs Ward had to wait for almost a year for a coroner to confirm that his death was a \u201cresult of complications of medical vaccination\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Stephen<\/p>\n

Stephen Ward<\/p>\n

Mrs Ward is a member of Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK (Vibuk). The group has been calling for reform of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme \u2013 which currently sees eligible people given a one-off payment of \u00a3120,000.<\/p>\n

The calls have been echoed in the latest report from the pandemic probe, with Inquiry chairwoman Baroness Heather Hallett saying the scheme is \u201cnot sufficiently supportive\u201d and requires \u201curgent reform\u201d.<\/p>\n

The probe highlights how the vaccine response was a \u201csuccess story\u201d, and says that by March 2023, 475,000 lives had been saved by Covid-19 vaccines in England and Scotland. But it acknowledges that there were \u201crare cases\u201d of people suffering serious injury or death as a result of vaccination.<\/p>\n

Lady Hallett said: \u201cTragically, a number of people suffered harm as a result of having a vaccine. This was a small minority compared to the overall scale of the vaccination programme, but of no less importance to the individuals affected and their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recommended that there is an increase to the minimum payment \u2013 which was last revised in 2007 \u2013 saying the current payment is \u201ctoo low\u201d.<\/p>\n

The payout should increase in line with inflation, the report says, which would mean it would now be in an \u201cexcess\u201d of \u00a3200,000, and this should rise with inflation.<\/p>\n

And Lady Hallett calls for a \u201cfairer system\u201d for determining payment.<\/p>\n

She also called for regulatory bodies to have access to healthcare records for safety monitoring for new vaccines and therapeutics.<\/p>\n

Solicitor Terry Wilcox, of Hudgell Solicitors \u2013 which has represented some of the vaccine injured groups, said: \u201cThe Inquiry rightfully provided a platform for their stories to be heard, and what they are calling for is simple. They deserve acknowledgement of the impact on their lives, which for many has been life-changing illness and loss of loved ones, and changes made to ensure they are properly supported, and that lessons are learned for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

A group of 48 claimants who have been seriously injured or bereaved as a result of a side-effect of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine are represented by Leigh Day partner Sarah Moore.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, in its current form, fails to provide timely or adequate support to those who have been seriously injured or bereaved due to vaccine side effects,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stephen Ward and colleagues outside Chesterton Co-op in 2019(Image: Stoke Sentinel)<\/p>\n

The AstraZeneca Covid-19 jab, also known as Vaxzevria, was withdrawn from the market in May 2024.<\/p>\n

In December 2020, the vaccine became the second Covid-19 jab to be approved for use in the UK and former prime minister Boris Johnson hailed it as a \u201ctriumph for British science\u201d.<\/p>\n

Vaccine makers agreed that it could be manufactured on a not-for-profit basis for the duration of the pandemic across the world, and in perpetuity to low and middle-income countries.<\/p>\n

Billions of doses were created and made available across 183 countries.<\/p>\n

Estimates suggest that the roll out of the jab saved 6.3 million lives around the world.<\/p>\n

On April 7 2021, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued updated information on the \u201cpossible risk of extremely rare and unlikely to occur specific types of blood clots\u201d following vaccination with the AstraZeneca jab.<\/p>\n

AstraZeneca said in a statement: \u201cOur sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems. Patient safety is our highest priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine has continuously been shown to have 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are incredibly proud of the role the Oxford-AstraZeneca played in ending the global pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccording to independent estimates, over six million lives were saved in the first year of use alone and over three billion doses were supplied globally.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur efforts have been recognised by governments around the world and are widely regarded as being a critical component of ending the global pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get even more North Staffordshire exclusives – and it is free<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now his widow is still demanding Government changesElla Pickover and Jane Kirby, Press Association and Rob Andrews Head…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":537459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[824,2211,1343,59,102,2810,104,23555,141755,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-537458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-boris-johnson","tag-coronavirus","tag-courts","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-newcastle-under-lyme","tag-nhs","tag-royal-stoke-university-hospital","tag-the-co-operative","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=537458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/537458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/537459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=537458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=537458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=537458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}