Woman breaks down in court hearing over swine flu vaccine

The 26-year-old woman who has sued claiming she developed narcolepsy after she got the Pandemrix swine flu vaccine has said within weeks of the vaccination she suffered waves of excessive tiredness.

Aoife Bennett broke down in the High Court as she told how she thought it was her responsibility to get the vaccine as the country faced a threatened swine flu pandemic 10 years ago.

“I thought it was my responsibility to get it so I would not pass it on to others, “ she told Mr Justice Michael McGrath.

She told the court she would have “taken a chance on getting swine flu” and would never have got the vaccine if she thought there were serious risk factors.

Her school friend, she said, got swine flu and recovered after two weeks off sick from school.

Aoife Bennett was only 16 years old when she got the vaccine in December 2009 as part of a mass vaccination programme.

On Christmas Day 2009, she said she had to drag herself downstairs for Christmas lunch. "I was absolutely exhausted. Before this I was very energetic and active," she said.

She said she spent a lot of the Christmas holidays in bed and found it very difficult because she was “ very very tired.”

When narcolepsy was diagnosed in 2011,she said she had never heard of it before.

Aoife, who gave evidence from a special comfortable chair snoozed before the judge came out in the bench and she was sworn in to give evidence. She also had to take breaks during her testimony,

At the outset Mr Justice Michael McGrath said Ms Bennett could take any breaks she requires during her evidence and he would adapt court hours to fit her giving her evidence.

Ms Bennett said she loved sports at school and also ran with a local athletics club. She said her only concern at the time about the vaccine was she might have a sore arm afterwards and she had to play a volleyball match that week.

She said:

“I felt it was my social responsibility to get the vaccine. I felt it was the right thing to do and if I had a sore arm, so be it."

The next day at school students were vaccinated on a class-by-class basis. She said there was "a commotion" as students lined up for the vaccine. She said she asked to read a brochure but was told she didn’t need to read it.

‘Somebody said she knew my father and there was nothing to worry about. I was reassured it was going to be fine,"she added.

She told the packed courtroom she used to fall asleep in school study in early 2010 and had strange sensations in her legs, would shake uncontrollably when she laughed and her legs and knees would buckle.

Ms Bennett, Lakelands, Naas, Co. Kildare, a third-level student has sued the Minister for Health, the HSE, the vaccine producer Glaxosmithkline Biologicals S.A. and Health Products Regulatory Authority.

In the proceedings, it is claimed HSE brochures on the vaccine had the effect of allegedly misleading those who read them as to the safety of the Pandemrix vaccine and the alleged risk associated with its use. It is claimed the brochures contained advice which was not consistent with the the actual facts.

It is further claimed the Health Minister and HSE ought to have known those who read the brochures were likely to come to an alleged erroneous conclusion as to the safety of Pandemrix vaccine and whether it had been adequately tested at all on children and adolescents prior to its release to the public.

Glaxosmithkline, it is claimed, demanded an indemnity from liability from the State before it would agree to supply the vaccine.

The Health Products Regulation Authority, it is alleged, was well aware there was an alternative vaccine which had more clinical data available in relation to its safety and efficacy.

All the defendants deny the claims and deny liability.

The case continues.