A lack of trust in government was a “significant contributor” in fuelling misinformation and low Covid-19 vaccine uptake in some communities across the UK, ministers have been warned.
The latest Covid-19 inquiry report, published on Thursday, warned the government needs to “rebuild trust” in vaccines before another pandemic hits as misinformation about jabs continues to spread across the globe, aided by social media.
Baroness Hallett, the inquiry chair, found a “lack of trust and confidence in governments and health systems”, further underlaid by “susceptibility to false information” about the jabs in the UK.
Though the inquiry concluded Britain’s vaccine rollout was largely a “success story”, she found some decisions – such as mandatory vaccine requirements for care home staff in England – were “political and not led by clinical advice” and in some cases contributed to “alienation and increased vaccine hesitancy” in some groups.
She also told the government to urgently reform the scheme for payments to those left injured by the vaccines, advising almost doubling the maximum payouts from £120,000 to at least £200,000.
The report also found:
- The government must counter the worldwide issue of vaccine hesitancy and have greater consideration of why some groups of people are unwilling or unable to access jabs
- The fast development of the jabs did not compromise the rigorous UK safety standards, and the vaccines were developed at a “remarkable pace” because of decades of global research and preparation
- By March 2023, 475,000 lives had been saved by jabs in England and Scotland
- Mandatory vaccine decisions were “political and not led by clinical advice” and are likely to have “contributed to alienation and increased vaccine hesitancy” in some groups
In a statement following the report’s publication, Lady Hallett said the government should “rebuild trust and promote better understanding” of vaccines.
“To some extent, this lack of confidence in Covid-19 vaccinations was a global issue, fuelled by the rapid sharing of false information online,” she said.
“However, it is clear that a lack of trust and confidence in authority was also a significant contributing factor in the UK.
“Governments and health services must work with communities to rebuild trust and promote a better understanding of, and confidence in, vaccines.”
The report urged all four nations in the UK to take action to build trust within communities with lower vaccine uptake, in order to make them more accessible before the next pandemic hits.
The fourth UK Covid-19 Inquiry report set out the country’s handling of vaccines and therapeutics throughout the pandemic.
Lady Hallett described the programme in the UK as an “extraordinary feat”, praising the fact that the UK was a world leader in biomedical sciences, meaning it was in a good position to develop and roll out the vaccines quickly and at scale.
By March 2023, 475,000 lives had been saved by jabs in England and Scotland, and millions of lives were saved worldwide.
Lady Hallett said : “The vaccination programme was an extraordinary feat. Effective vaccines were developed, produced and delivered to the majority of the population in record time.”
It also concluded that the fast development of the jabs did not compromise the rigorous UK safety standards, and found that the vaccines were developed at a “remarkable pace” because of decades of global research and preparation.
However, she also acknowledged that those injured by the jabs have been let down, stating that the payment scheme available to them is in need of urgent reform.
She said the government must act to improve the scheme “as a matter of urgency” by almost doubling maximum payouts to at least £200,000, from the current upper limit of £120,000, which was last revised in 2007.
The government has been told it must then subsequently apply annual increases in line with inflation and “introduce multiple levels of payment, commensurate with the degree of injury suffered”.
The report also said the threshold for people to be 60 per cent disabled to receive payment should also be scrapped, saying it leaves “those people with a significant injury that affects how they live, but does not meet the 60 per cent threshold, with nothing”.
As of January 2025, only 9,545 of the 17,519 applications to the vaccine damage payment scheme for issues related to the Covid vaccine had been notified of an outcome. This has left almost 8,000 applicants without a decision, with over 1,000 waiting for over a year, and 126 more waiting for over two years.
On vaccine hesitancy, the inquiry found lower uptake in poorer communities and among some ethnic minority groups was predictable and could have been better planned for.
“While the majority of people took up the offer of vaccination when it was made, there was lower uptake within communities in areas of higher deprivation and in some ethnic minority communities,” she said.
“For many, their concerns centred on the safety of vaccines and possible side effects.”
Overall, Lady Hallett made five recommendations, including reforming the the payment scheme; giving regulatory bodies access to healthcare records for safety monitoring for new vaccines and therapeutics; establishing a “pharmaceutical expert advisory panel” to ensure the UK is well placed to develop, procure and manufacture vaccines and new treatments, and producing targeted vaccine strategies and better monitoring of vaccine uptake and delivery.
The government said it has spent £111m in responding to the inquiry, covering legal advice and staffing costs.
By the end of December, the inquiry had spent just under £204m, including on set-up, the chair and lawyer costs, and holding public hearings in all four nations of the UK.
