Covid Inquiry report on vaccines ‘a whitewash’, says bereaved group

Martin Shipton

A group representing those who lost family members during the pandemic has accused the UK Covid-19 Inquiry of whitewashing the performance of the Welsh Government in delivering vaccines.

In her fourth report, the Chair of the Inquiry, Baroness Hallett concluded that the development and rollout of Covid-19 vaccines was “an extraordinary feat” and the vaccine and therapeutic programmes were “two of the success stories of the pandemic” – but that governments and health services must now work to rebuild public trust in vaccines.

Module 4, the fourth of the Inquiry’s 10 investigations, examined how vaccines and therapeutics were developed, authorised and delivered across the four nations of the UK during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It finds that decades of global research and preparation – including to develop mRNA vaccines and vaccine platform technologies – were fundamental to the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine response. This groundwork, which would ordinarily take between 10 to 20 years, allowed the UK to authorise and roll-out effective vaccines within a year of its first identified Covid-19 case.

In 2021, approximately 132m Covid-19 vaccinations were given across the four nations, making it the largest vaccination programme in UK history. By June 2022, about 87% of the UK population aged over 12 years had been vaccinated with two doses.

However, vaccine uptake was lower in communities with greater levels of deprivation and in some ethnic minority groups. The Inquiry finds that these disparities were predictable and must be addressed before the next pandemic.

It also finds that the current Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme is not sufficiently supportive of those who suffered serious harm as a result of vaccination and requires urgent reform.

The report highlights the vital role of therapeutics. The drug dexamethasone was being used to save the lives of hospitalised Covid-19 patients by June 2020, within hours of trial results confirming its effectiveness. By March 2021, it is estimated to have saved 22,000 lives in the UK and one million across the globe.

At the start of the pandemic it was fortunate that the UK was a world leader in biomedical sciences. In order to be prepared for future pandemics, the Inquiry concludes that it is vital that investment in life sciences is maintained.

Lack of confidence in Covid-19 vaccines was a global issue, driven by the spread of false information online and compounded by the fact that the vaccines were new and developed quickly. An underlying lack of trust in governments across the UK and health systems across the UK made some communities more susceptible to false information about the Covid vaccines.

In the Module 4 report, the Chair recommends that action is taken across all four nations to build trust within communities with lower vaccine uptake and to improve access to vaccines before the next pandemic.

Accountable

However, the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru took issue with the Chair’s main findings, putting out a statement that said: “The UK Covid-19 Inquiry Module 4 report calls it wrong for the Welsh Bereaved in failing to hold the Welsh Government accountable for their decisions and inaction.

“By summer 2020, the Welsh Government knew that it had just two centres capable of storing vaccines at the low refrigeration levels required but they did nothing. Instead, they deflected responsibility—blaming an older population—while making decisions that would have devastating consequences.

“On 24 November 2020 the Welsh Government decided not to deliver vaccines to care home residents for the first four weeks of rollout. The result? One in three unvaccinated people died in care homes where Covid outbreaks occurred. These were not inevitable deaths—they were the consequence of delay and failure.

“By the end of January 2021 (two months after vaccinations commenced), only half of care home residents in Wales had been vaccinated, despite them being the highest priority group, resulting in some 500 deaths in January alone. Meanwhile, non-patient-facing NHS staff were prioritised against JVCI guidelines. This is not just “too little, too late”. It is a profound failure that cost lives.

“For bereaved families in Wales, this cannot be brushed aside. We need accountability. We need answers. And we need a Wales Covid Inquiry to properly examine the decisions that led to so many unnecessary deaths.”