Covid-19 Inquiry’s Module 4 report: public trust in vaccines needs rebuilding despite rapid rollout
30 April 2026
Garden Court North’s inquests and public inquiries’ team represents the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice UK at the Covid Inquiry. Credit: William Barton / Shutterstock.
The Chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry, Baroness Hallett, published her report into Module 4 on 16 April 2026, concluding that the prompt development and rollout of vaccines was “an extraordinary feat” but that governments and health services must rebuild public trust in vaccines.
The report found that vaccine uptake was lower in communities with greater levels of deprivation and some ethnic minority groups, which were “predictable disparities” that “must be addressed before the next pandemic”.
An underlying lack of trust in governments and health systems across the UK left some communities more susceptible to false information about the Covid vaccines, resulting in significant inequalities of vaccine uptake, the report added.
“For many, their concern centred on the safety of vaccines and possible side-effects,” Baroness Hallett said. “To some extent, this lack of confidence in Covid-19 vaccinations was a global issue, fuelled by the rapid sharing of false information online. However, it’s clear that a lack of trust and confidence in authority was also a significant contributing factor in the UK”.
‘Vaccines and Therapeutics’: five recommendations
In her report, Baroness Hallett made five key recommendations:
- Establishing an expert advisory panel
- Improving targeted communications
- Strengthening monitoring of vaccine uptake
- Reforming compensation arrangements
- Better facilitating regulatory bodies’ access to healthcare records
The Module 4 report also found that the current Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, which compensates members of the public damage by the vaccine, is “not sufficiently supportive” and “requires urgent reform”. Baroness Hallett recommended that maximum payouts be increased from the current upper limit of £120,000 to at least £200,000.
Rare praise for UK’s response to Covid-19 in Module 4 report
The report hailed the UK’s vaccine and therapeutic programmes as “two of the success stories of the pandemic”.
Ordinarily, the development and rollout of a nationwide vaccine would take between 10 to 20 years. Decades of global research and preparation in mRNA vaccine preparation and vaccine platform technologies were fundamental to the UK’s rapid Covid-19 vaccine response, the Module 4 report found, enabling the authorisation and roll-out of effective vaccines within a year of the UK’s first identified Covid-19 case.
In 2021, 132 million Covid-19 vaccinations were administered across the four nations, making it the largest vaccination programme in UK history. By June 2022, approximately 87% of the UK population aged over 12 years had been vaccinated with two doses.
The Module 4 report is the fourth of 10 reports to be published by the Covid-19 Inquiry, which finished taking evidence in March. Garden Court North’s inquests and public inquiries’ team represent the Covid-19 Bereaved Families For Justice (CBFFJ) UK in eight of the Inquiry’s ten modules, instructed by Broudie Jackson Canter.
Additional media
UK Covid-19 Inquiry – Overall Covid vaccine programme a “success story” but public trust in vaccines must be rebuilt, Inquiry finds
UK Covid-19 Inquiry – Module 4 Report – Vaccines and Therapeutics
Broudie Jackson Canter – Covid Inquiry Publishes Fourth Report on Vaccines and Therapeutics
The Guardian – Trust in vaccines needs rebuilding despite ‘extraordinary feat’ of Covid jabs, inquiry finds
For further information, please contact Alex Blair, Communications Manager at Garden Court North Chambers: ablair@gcnchambers.co.uk
