UK Covid vaccine programme hailed as 'extraordinary feat' but chair warns payout scheme not fit for purpose

Yet the 274-page study delivers a stark message to ministers; the compensation system for those harmed by the jabs demands immediate overhaul.

Lady Hallett found that effective vaccines reached the majority of the population in record time, with risks carefully managed and substantially outweighed by benefits.

Nevertheless, the inquiry "acknowledges the suffering of those for whom vaccines led to serious injury or death".

The inquiry recommends the Government raise the maximum payout from £120,000 to at least £200,000, adjusting for inflation since the scheme was last revised in 2007.

Lady Hallett urged ministers to abolish the requirement that claimants must be 60 per cent disabled to qualify for compensation.

The current threshold, she argued, leaves "those people with a significant injury that affects how they live, but does not meet the 60 per cent threshold, with nothing".

Her report calls for "a graduated threshold scheme" to create a fairer system for determining awards.

The inquiry chairwoman described the existing Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme as "not sufficiently supportive" of those who suffered rare but devastating side effects from the jabs.

Sheila Ward described the harrowing moment she faced switching off her husband's life support machine just 11 days after he received the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Stephen Ward, 57, from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, was rushed to hospital 10 days after his jab in 2021, displaying stroke symptoms including speech difficulties and limb weakness.

The Co-op employee of four decades had developed a blood clot, and despite doctors' efforts, the bleeding proved too severe for survival.

"Stephen was one of those people who would help anybody do anything," Mrs Ward told the Press Association. "If your car wouldn't start in the morning he would help you, if you were unwell he would mow your grass."

She waited nearly a year for a coroner to confirm his death resulted from "complications of medical vaccination".

Kate Scott provided testimony to the inquiry about her husband Jamie, a senior IT engineer who was 44 when he received the AstraZeneca jab in April 2021.

Ten days later, he awoke with a severe headache, vomiting and impaired speech before being rushed to hospital, where surgeons performed multiple operations to address a blood clot in his brain.

The father of two spent four weeks in a coma and now lives with permanent brain damage, impaired speech, reduced cognition, visual difficulties and chronic fatigue.

"He had to relearn to walk, talk, eat, communicate," Mrs Scott said. "His relationship with me and, mostly, his relationship with our children will never be the same again."

She added that her husband, who spent his career problem-solving, is unlikely ever to work again.

Both Mrs Ward and Mrs Scott are members of Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK, a campaign group that has long pressed for reform of the compensation scheme.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, withdrawn from the market in May 2024, was approved in December 2020 and hailed by Boris Johnson as "a triumph for British science".

Billions of doses reached 183 countries, with independent estimates suggesting the rollout saved 6.3 million lives globally in its first year alone.

Solicitor Terry Wilcox of Hudgell Solicitors said those affected "deserve acknowledgement of the impact on their lives" and proper support going forward.

Lady Hallett also urged action across all four nations to build trust within communities showing lower vaccine uptake before the next pandemic arrives.