Bereaved families criticise Covid-19 vaccine rollout at public inquiry
Family members of those who died after contracting Covid-19 gave evidence to the public inquiry on Wednesday.
Bereaved families have criticised the “haphazard” rollout of the coronavirus vaccine, including concerns over who was classed a key worker and access for rural communities.
At the UK Covid-19 inquiry on Wednesday, campaigners whose family members died after contracting the virus discussed issues related to the vaccination programme including disparities in how it was implemented across different areas of the UK.
Fiona Clarke, representing the Northern Ireland Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, was asked by counsel to the inquiry Daniel Mansell about her witness statement where she highlighted that in June 2021 the Government in England indicated vaccines would become compulsory for care home staff but that this approach was not adopted by the devolved government in Northern Ireland.
“It was so haphazard. Nobody knew what the other one was doing,” she replied.
Ms Clarke, who was previously taken to hospital with Covid and whose mother died aged 90 after testing positive for the virus in January 2021, went on to say she thought there should have been a different approach for vaccinating those in rural communities.
She said: “They should have had a mobile, a doctor on call to go out and administer the medication, administer the vaccines, it would have been so much more helpful.”
Giving evidence, Melanie Newdick, whose mother died after contracting Covid-19, criticised disparities in the speed of the vaccine rollout across the different parts of the UK, including Scotland.
When vaccines began at the end of 2020, there was a “fast pace” of delivery, which then “slowed”, she said.
Ms Newdick, who travelled 600 miles to represent the group Scottish Covid Bereaved at the hearing in London, said: “The part of Scotland where I live, which is a very remote part of Scotland, the delivery slowed because Christmas came, so some people didn’t get the vaccine as early as they could, which could have had impacts for them as well, and we also had the situation where people missed their opportunity to get vaccinations because they were in hospital which seems incredible, really, when you think about it.”
Ms Newdick went on to raise concerns about the current system for arranging vaccines in Scotland, saying “very few” patients can access immunisations via their GP, after changes made in April 2023 and, instead, these are administered at vaccination clinics.
She said of the system: “We have to ring the health board, or we have to go online, and we have to find a clinic to go for that vaccination. We can’t go to the GP for any vaccination, not a tetanus, not a childhood vaccination, not a flu, not a Covid, nothing.”
She continued: “It doesn’t work for a remote rural community – who is going to drive 220 miles to get a vaccine?
“I’m very keen on vaccines, but even I’m not going to do that, so we need a system that’s actually going to work for the population that it serves, and not a central one-size-fits-all policy.”
She said the current system has resulted in an “extra barrier” for those who may be “vaccine hesitant”.
Helena Rossiter, representing the group Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice UK, told the probe that although her son Peter was a teacher, he was not on the priority list to receive the vaccine.
Ms Rossiter became emotional as she described Peter, who died after contracting coronavirus in August 2021 – almost three months after receiving his first jab.
He had worked through the pandemic as head of music at a school that had remained open for the children of key workers and by the time he received his first dose in May 2021, shops, restaurants and schools were beginning to open up after lockdown, she said.
“The European Cup final was on and people were gathering to watch that, and Peter only then was getting his first vaccine,” Ms Rossiter told the probe.
“He’d had to wait until May, despite the fact that he, as a teacher, was a key worker.
“He was looking after children of other key workers and those key workers were actually in contact with Covid cases, or some of them the children, were seen at the time to be carriers of the virus.
“To this day, I can’t understand why, why teachers were not given priority for that virus, for the vaccine.”
Ms Rossiter added that, beyond health and sector workers, people in the campaign group, which now has almost 7,000 members, had raised questions about why workers in other key industries, including transport, did not receive priority vaccination.
The inquiry is now in its fourth module which will explore the issues relating to the development and rollout of the vaccine programme in the UK, as well as barriers to uptake, confidence in the jabs, access issues and issues around vaccine safety.
At the peak of the programme, there were more than 4,000 accredited vaccination sites operating across seven regions of the NHS and 153 local authorities.
According to NHS data, as of January 5 2025, more than 175 million vaccinations have been administered in England.
