Parents whose children became seriously ill as a result of a swine flu vaccination have launched a legal claim against the Dutch state, reports ANP.

The case involves 14 children who developed a severe sleeping disease following their vaccination in 2009, and personal injury lawyer John Beer told EenVandaag TV news that they are suing the state.

The claim is related to GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccination, Pandemrix, and Beer cited international research suggesting a link between this jab and narcolepsy, a rare and incurable condition which causes people to fall asleep suddenly and unexpectedly.

‘Firstly, we demand that the government recognizes this and secondly, we want a financial solution,’ he said. He claims that parents of children with these problems have received compensation in Sweden, Finland, and Norway although not as yet in the Netherlands.

A World Health Organisation report in 2011 reported a rise in cases of narcolepsy in children who had received Pandemrix vaccinations in Finland and Sweden. In the UK last year, a 12-year-old boy was awarded £120,000 by a court that agreed he was left severely disabled by narcolepsy triggered by the Pandemrix vaccine.

In the Netherlands, 29 children reportedly developed narcolepsy after the jab.