A UK public inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has called for urgent reform of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme, which compensates people seriously harmed by Covid jabs. Inquiry chair Lady Heather Hallett recommended nearly doubling the maximum payout from £120,000 to at least £200,000 and scrapping the current requirement that claimants be assessed as at least 60% disabled — a threshold she said leaves many people with significant but lesser injuries without any support. The inquiry's fourth report, covering vaccines and therapeutics, also praised the UK vaccination programme as an "extraordinary feat" that saved an estimated 475,000 lives in England and Scotland by March 2023, while urging the government to address vaccine hesitancy among underserved communities ahead of future pandemics.