John Stevens, whose late wife Rebecca Stevens was wheelchair-bound and largely incapacitated after receiving the AstraZeneca jab in April 2021, said the Government's compensation system was not fit for purpose". Mr Stevens told The Telegraph that the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) " which awards a flat fee of £120,000 to people seriously injured after having vaccinations " needed to be "brought up to date with modern costs". He criticised the arbitrary level of 60 per cent "disablement" that patients must reach in order to qualify for a payout. Mrs Stevens " known as Bec " received a payment under the VDPS, which Mr Stevens described as wholly inadequate given the level of care she required and the impact her disability had on her capacity to work. She died in October last year at the age of 48. Her death was attributed to natural causes and "a complication which arose following administration of the AstraZeneca vaccination". Mr Stevens said that his wife, the mother of two grown-up sons, had gone from being a highly eloquent lawyer to having very limited speech and being unable to wash, dress or feed herself. His wife was one of dozens of claimants who began legal action against AstraZeneca over its "defective" Covid vaccination. The pharma giant is defending the claim, which the Government is indemnifying, meaning taxpayers could ultimately be liable for some costs.