UK to overhaul vaccine damage scheme after inquiry rebuke — SkimNews
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- The UK government committed to reviewing the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS) in response to Baroness Hallett's fourth Covid Inquiry report, which called the scheme "not sufficiently supportive" and in need of "urgent" reform.
- Baroness Hallett argued the current threshold requiring claimants to prove at least 60% disability does not work effectively for Covid vaccines, despite acknowledging the injured represent a minority.
- More than 24,000 people have lodged Covid-related VDPS claims, yet just over 1% have resulted in the £120,000 one-off tax-free award.
- Vaccine Injured and Bereaved UK welcomed the government's acknowledgement that vaccine injury and bereavement are real and that the scheme is unfit, but said there is "no clear timetable, no certainty about what will change and no assurance about when families will finally see meaningful progress."
- The VDPS has cost £83m to run since April 2022, with administration and medical assessment spending more than double the £32m paid out in financial support to claimants so far.
- Ministers in England pledged to work closely with the other UK nations and with vaccine-injured people and their families on reform, while noting the AstraZeneca Covid jab is credited with saving millions of lives worldwide.
Why it matters: Over 24,000 claimants await reform, yet only about 1% have received the £120,000 award — and with no timetable announced, vaccine-injured families face continued uncertainty. The stark imbalance between the £83m scheme running costs and just £32m paid out in support quantifies the dysfunction the campaign group says ministers still haven't committed to fixing.
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