Cancer jab girl died of chest tumour

Teenager Natalie Morton died from a malignant tumour in her chest and not from a reaction to the cervical cancer jab, it was revealed today.

Deputy coroner for Coventry Louise Hunt told Natalie's parents that the current indication was that the vaccine was not a contributing factor in her death.

Opening and adjourning the inquest at Coventry Magistrates' Court, she said: "It appears that Natalie died from a tumour in her chest involving her heart and her lungs."

Natalie, 14, collapsed less than two hours after being given a cervical cancer vaccination at Coventry's Blue Coat Church of England School on Monday.

Natalie's mother Elaine Bullock and stepfather Andrew Bullock, paid tribute the 14-year-old outside the court.

They said she was a "kind and fun-loving teenager with a beautiful smile".

Mr Bullock said: "Natalie was a wonderful daughter, sister and granddaughter.

"She was kind, fun-loving and had a beautiful smile.

"Natalie had a strong personal faith in God. We know that she has gone to heaven to be with her saviour, Jesus."

He added: "We now know that Natalie's death was the result of a serious underlying medical condition and most probably nothing to do with the vaccine that she had at school on Monday."

Mr Bullock went on: "We understand that further tests are being carried out to discover the exact cause of Natalie's death."

Natalie's stepfather and mother expressed their gratitude to Blue Coat School headteacher Julie Roberts and her staff, and also thanked paramedics and hospital staff.

"We have seen the flowers and the messages of love and support laid at the cross in the school grounds," her stepfather added.

The inquest was told that the tumour in Natalie's chest had "heavily infiltrated" her heart and extended into her left lung.

Home Office pathologist Alexander Kolar told the 15-minute hearing that Natalie's condition was "so severe that death could have arisen at any point".

Dr Kolar gave the official preliminary cause of death as tumour of the chest, type to be diagnosed.

The deputy coroner for Coventry heard that Natalie collapsed in a corridor at the school around 75 minutes after being given her injection.

Detective Sergeant Nicholas Le Poidevin gave the hearing a brief outline of the timings surrounding the death.

The officer, a member of Coventry's public protection unit, confirmed that the cervical cancer vaccine was administered to Natalie at 10.45am.

The detective told the coroner: "My understanding is that Natalie attended school as normal on the Monday morning and during the morning she was receiving an immunisation.

"Then, at approximately midday, Natalie suffered a collapse in a corridor.

"At 12.05pm a nurse on duty at the school during the immunisations attended and Natalie by then was in a state of unconsciousness."

Natalie, who was spoken to and reassured by teaching staff before losing consciousness, was then given an EpiPen injection and an ambulance arrived at the school at 12.19pm.

But Natalie, from Stoke, Coventry, was pronounced dead at 1.01pm after being taken to Coventry's University Hospital.

The Government has said it has great confidence in the safety of its cervical cancer vaccination programme.

Before the preliminary results from the autopsy on Natalie were known, the vaccine's manufacturer voluntarily initiated a recall of one batch of vaccine as a precautionary measure.

But health experts have stressed that the vaccine is safe, estimating that the chance of developing a severe, life-threatening reaction to it is around one in a million, while the probability of a British woman developing cervical cancer over her lifetime is 7,400 times greater.