UK's Covid vaccine development and rollout was 'extraordinary feat', inquiry finds

The UK's development and rollout of Covid vaccines was an "extraordinary feat", the UK Covid-19 Inquiry finds The inquiry's report cites one estimate that by March 2023 vaccines had saved the lives of 475,000 people in England and Scotland Inquiry chair Baroness Hallett calls it one of the "success stories" of the pandemic, with a usual 10 to 20-year process taking place in less than one But there were criticisms too - over the uptake among poorer communities and some ethnic minority groups, the spread of false information, and the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme The description of how treatments and vaccines were quickly developed and deployed as a "great success" is in stark contrast with the inquiry's previous critical assessments of other parts of the UK's pandemic response Just under 227,000 people died in the UK from Covid between March 2020 and May 2023, when the World Health Organization said the "global health emergency" was over Edited by Rorey Bosotti, with Nick Triggle, Jim Reed and Ben Hatton reporting from the inquiry Nick TriggleHealth correspondent, reporting from the inquiry The Covid vaccination programme was unprecedented. Never before had vaccines been developed s