UK promises to fix the payment scheme for people harmed by Covid vaccines

The story

The UK government has promised to reform the scheme that pays people who were injured or bereaved by vaccines, after strong criticism from the official Covid Inquiry.

In her fourth report, inquiry chair Baroness Hallett said the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme was not supportive enough and needed urgent reform. She noted that the people harmed are a small minority, but said the way they are helped has to get better.

More than 24,000 people have made Covid related claims to the scheme, most of them linked to the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is credited with saving millions of lives around the world. Just over 1% of those claims have led to an award, which is a single tax free payment of £120,000. To qualify, people must show they are at least 60% disabled, a test the inquiry said does not work well for Covid vaccines.

The cost of running the scheme has drawn attention too. Figures released last month showed it has cost £83 million to run since April 2022, more than twice the £32 million actually paid out to people who were harmed.

In its response, the government said it would review the scheme to make sure it is fit for purpose and run properly. Ministers in England say they will work with the other UK nations and with people injured by the vaccine and their families.

The campaign group Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK welcomed the admission that vaccine injury is real and that the current scheme falls short. But after more than five years of campaigning, the group said families still have no clear timetable and no certainty about what will change.