BRITAIN’S Covid jab rollout was a rare success amid the chaos, the pandemic inquiry has ruled, praising it “extraordinary” for saving an estimated 475,000 lives.
The invention and rollout of the vaccines, with the help of nearly half a million volunteers including The Sun’s Jabs Army, was unprecedented and won out despite just a 10 per cent chance of success, the inquiry said.
Brit Maggie Keenan was the first person in the world to receive a Covid vaccine outside of clinical trialsCredit: PA
But chair Baroness Heather Hallett called for urgent reform of compensation for people injured or killed by the vaccines and warned dangerous lies about jab safety are still rife online.
The £200million inquiry on Thursday published its fourth report out of 10, focusing on vaccines and medicines.
It pits UK efforts to stop the bug with medicine as “a great success” while the inquiry has slated most other aspects of the government response.
Britain was the first country in the world to begin vaccinating members of the public in December 2020.
Lady Hallett said experts believed there was a rubbish 10/1 chance of a vaccine being found in time to stop the virus.
However 20 years of cutting edge science, government cash and excellent leadership from people like Sir Patrick Vallance and Dame Kate Bingham pulled off the feat.
The inquiry heard from one high-risk Brit: “The vaccine brought me hope because I was in a hopeless situation at the time.”
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.
“For the vast majority of the UK, the vaccines protected people against the most serious effects of Covid-19 and saved lives.
“Over time, this helped to reduce the need for lockdown restrictions and to ease some of the damaging effects of the pandemic on society.”
The report praised Boris Johnson’s government for being “willing to invest substantial sums of money” in mammoth efforts to find jabs and drugs to stop the disease.
It said the expertise and connections of Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific adviser at the time, were key – and warned we may not have him next time.
Praise also went to Dame Kate Bingham, chief of the vaccine taskforce, whom Boris Johnson described as “superabundantly qualified”.
The 286-page report said one study estimates vaccination prevented up to 475,000 deaths in the UK alone.
But it warned the programme had flaws.
Many people were harmed or even killed by the jabs and the government payment system is “inadequate”, Lady Hallet said.
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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