UKCVFamily Advocates for Covid Vaccine-Injured and Bereaved in Meeting with Northern Ireland Health Minister

Representatives of UKCVFamily — a charity supporting the Covid vaccine-injured and -bereaved — met with the Northern Ireland Health Minister at the Department of Health in Belfast on Wednesday. 

Chair of Trustees Caroline Pover, Trustee Brian Howard, and Northern Ireland-based injured member Fiona Campbell met with Mike Nesbitt and Departmental officials to discuss proposals regarding a possible care pathway for those who have been impacted or may be impacted in the future.

Photo (L to R): UKCVFamily Trustee Brian Howard, Fiona Campbell, Health Minister Mike Nesbitt, UKCVFamily Chair of Trustees Caroline Pover

UKCVFamily presented a ten-step plan for the management of Covid vaccine-related damage, which some people have now been living with for over five years. Chair of Trustees, Caroline Pover, said, “Over 4000 people in Northern Ireland filed a Yellow Card Report due to a suspected reaction as a result of receiving a Covid-19 vaccine — we hope that our plan will help GPs in the region know how to support patients who may have been injured by a vaccine.”

Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said, “We are looking forward to Baroness Hallett’s recommendations relating to Module 4 of The Covid Inquiry, due to be published on 16th April, which may provide recommendations regarding how we acknowledge and support those that may have been injured as a result of vaccination.”

In the meantime, UKCVFamily (registered charity no. 1207178) is encouraging anyone affected to reach out to them. The charity currently supports around 2700 individuals and families in the UK.

BOOK REVIEW: MY TEMPORARY DAUGHTER, BY IAN LEES

My Temporary Daughter: Searching for Life in Unpopular Grief, by Ian Lees, published by TellWell Talent, 13 June 2025

My Temporary Daughter is a father’s memoir on suddenly and unexpectedly losing his 34-year-old daughter in 2021. It had my eyes stinging right from the Prologue which describes how Ian Lees indicates to the ICU that Katie’s life support is to be switched off. Rarely can writing take you so swiftly right into such intense emotion.

I read this book in two days, marvelling at what a gift this father has to honour his daughter’s memory in such a way. It’s not just a book about Katie’s untimely and controversial death nor about the love of a father for his daughter, it is a commentary on what was happening in Australia throughout 2021, as well as the author’s existential journey as he breaks down all of his old beliefs and reluctantly continues with a life that he barely recognises.

Whilst I have spent much of the past four and a half years myself immersed in the world of the vaccine-injured, it has only been Ian’s writing that has truly illuminated the realities of losing someone to VITT. It wasn’t just the biological detail that hit me, but the reality of being a family member not allowed to accompany a loved one to hospital was hard to swallow. I found myself swearing out loud when he was only allowed to visit his daughter for one hour a day while she was in a coma. What happened to our sense of humanity during that time? 

I was full of admiration for his bravery in admitting his own vulnerabilities, many of which I could relate to. I too remember looking at “normal” people and wondering how they could go about their daily lives, the anger I felt when triggered by what I felt was a lack of sensitivity to my suffering, and that disconnection with society when it opened up again. It is the little details he shares that those inhabiting the world of the injured and bereaved will clearly remember, but few of us can imagine what it must be like to receive a sympathy card with a stamp saying, “Get Vaccinated” when a vaccine necessitated the sending of such a card. I feel that the true impact of this book will only be felt much, much later when future generations reflect on the context within which vaccine-related bereavement was experienced. 

But somehow Ian Lees manages for it not to be a depressing read. It is full of beautiful words of wisdom, pleading “when the ‘other’ speaks, open your heart and mind and listen,” and possibly my favourite part of the book, when he talks about how he now pauses when saying goodbye to the people he loves … “Just in case.” My Temporary Daughter is a book offering lessons in how to speak to someone after loss: “Nothing you can say will hurt any more than what I am hurting now. But what does hurt is saying nothing.” I feel like this book can provide guidance to anyone who feels helpless as they watch someone struggle through grief. And It can provide unexpected inspiration.

For it is also a book of celebration of Katie’s life and spirit. He speaks of his daughter’s “otherworldliness” as if she “didn’t fully belong in human existence.” By his account, Katie was an empath, like so many other people I have come across in the vaccine-injured and -bereaved community, which leads me yet again to wonder whether there is something about such highly sensitive people that puts us at higher risk of harm.

Ian’s book is about Katie’s death but it is about her life too, and I find his words have the potential to inspire us all to live a full life just like Katie did during her thirty four years. I thank him for sharing the life that she had, and hope that we may all become better people because of his bravery in writing so beautifully about his devastating loss.

My Temporary Daughter: Searching for Life in Unpopular Grief, by Ian Lees, published by TellWell Talent, 13 June 2025, ISBN 978-1998482658, is available on Amazon and at the author’s website at https://ianlees.com.au.

Create Your Free Will Online with UKCVFamily and FreeWills.co.uk

UKCVFamily have partnered with FreeWills.co.uk to provide all our supporters with the opportunity to make their own fully comprehensive Will for free. You can make your personalised Will online in three simple steps, from the comfort of your own home and with live support from their Will specialists.

Leaving a legacy in your will is one of the best ways of ensuring that we can continue our valuable work. UKCVFamily is run entirely by volunteers who are adversely affected by Covid-19 vaccination themselves, and nearly all of our work is paid for by donations. A gift in your will, however small or large, can help ensure we can always be here for the vaccine-injured and bereaved.

By making a Will you can ensure that your wishes, and the people and causes you care about, are provided for. FreeWills.co.uk are a member of the Society of Will Writers and have raised over 200 million pounds for charitable causes so far.

It will not cost you a penny, it's simple to do either online or on the phone, and is free from inheritance tax. You are under no obligation to leave a gift to UKCVFamily and can use this service without making a legacy donation, however, all gifts, whatever their size make a real difference to our charity.

Visit https://www.freewills.co.uk/charity/ukcvfamily