Parliament

On Thursday 16 April 2026, the Covid-19 Inquiry published its fourth report, which focussed on the role of vaccines and therapeutics throughout the pandemic and put forward 5 recommendations for the Government to consider. Today, the Government published its response and set out the actions we are taking to address them.

Our thoughts remain with all those affected by the pandemic. We recognise the impact that these experiences have had on individuals and families, and the importance of ensuring that their experiences are heard and reflected in the lessons we learn from the Inquiry. I also want to recognise all those who served the public with dedication, compassion and courage in the most challenging of conditions.

Baroness Hallett’s Module 4 report recognises the remarkable success of the vaccines and therapeutics programmes. Effective vaccines were developed, authorised and deployed at exceptional speed, while still going through the robust clinical trial and safety process necessary for such interventions. Therapeutics were identified quickly to treat those who became seriously ill. The report sets out how vaccines protected many people against the most serious effects of COVID-19, saved lives, reduced pressure on healthcare systems and helped to ease the wider social and economic effects of the pandemic.

The report also highlights the factors that made this possible. This includes the UK’s world-leading position in biomedical sciences, the dedication of doctors, scientists and researchers supported by the UK’s academic institutions and research funders, the skills of those managing the programmes, and the staff and volunteers keeping the vaccination centres running. I also want to thank the public in coming forward to be vaccinated to protect those around them.

The government is also grateful to Baroness Hallet and the Covid-19 Inquiry team for identifying important lessons for the future in relation to planning and responding to future pandemics. This publication sets out our response to the Module 4 report and recommendations.

We recognise there is more to do, and we are continuing to learn from the Inquiry’s findings and address the issues identified. We must ensure that future vaccination and therapeutics programmes earn people’s trust, are accessible to everyone who needs them and are guided by the best available evidence, as these programmes were. We must continue and build on our work with communities to understand and address the barriers that influence vaccine uptake.

The Inquiry notes that safety monitoring must continue to evolve and proposes reform of the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme to ensure it is fair to those seriously harmed or bereaved following vaccination, and recognises the trauma and distress caused to families facing long waits for the processing of their claims. We take these concerns very seriously and will look further at what needs to be done to improve the scheme.

We must maintain investment in research, manufacturing capability, surveillance systems and health data infrastructure, forging closer relationships with key life science partners to support improvements.

Our focus is on practical action. There are four areas we need to address for vaccine uptake: clearer NHS organisation, more flexible services, better public information and joined-up digital records. We are also taking forward reforms to improve pandemic preparedness, health resilience and the UK’s life sciences capability. Our recently published Pandemic Preparedness Strategy aims to enhance our approach to future health emergencies and developing the underlying capabilities needed to respond rapidly.

Investment in research, surveillance and health data will further improve our ability to respond to emerging threats. This work also builds on the ambitions of the 10-Year Health Plan for England which sets out a long-term vision to make the NHS fit for the future, delivering better, faster care, with a workforce that is more empowered, flexible and fulfilled. It places prevention at the heart of NHS reform in England, including through improved vaccination programmes, greater use of new vaccine technologies, better use of high-quality and connected health data to support prevention and early intervention, and closer collaboration between the NHS, universities and industry.

The findings from Module 4 are ultimately about innovation, trust and preparedness. By learning the lessons set out in the report, we can boost our resilience, improve public confidence and ensure that the UK is better equipped for future health emergencies.

On Thursday 19 March 2026, the Covid-19 Inquiry published its third report, which focussed on the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare systems of the UK and put forward ten recommendations for the Government to consider. Today, the Government is publishing its response to the report, and setting out the actions we are taking to address its recommendations.

The COVID-19 pandemic was one of the most significant public health challenges in recent history, placing extraordinary demands on health and care services and affecting people and communities across the United Kingdom.

Many thousands lost loved ones, often in deeply distressing circumstances, and our thoughts remain with all those affected. We also continue to pay tribute to the health and social care workers across the country who served the public with extraordinary dedication, compassion, and courage in the most challenging of conditions.

The Government is grateful to Baroness Hallett and the UK Covid-19 Inquiry team for their continued efforts to ensure that we learn all the necessary lessons from this crisis, and we are grateful as well to all those front-line workers and bereaved families who shared often harrowing evidence of their experiences with the Inquiry.

The Module 3 report is a sobering and important account of the impact of the pandemic on healthcare systems across the UK. It recognises both the extraordinary efforts of frontline staff and the profound pressures under which they worked.

It also shows how the pandemic exposed significant vulnerabilities in our health and care systems, including longstanding weaknesses in staffing, capacity and infrastructure, and it sets out the consequences that these had for patient care during a national emergency.

It is vital that the lessons from those failings continue to be learned and embedded to strengthen the future resilience of our health and care systems.

In many areas, that action is already underway. Our 10 Year Health Plan sets out a long-term vision to make the NHS fit for the future, delivering better, faster care, with a workforce that is more empowered, flexible and fulfilled. We are also bringing forward legislation through the Health Bill which is integral to our modernisation agenda to improve patient care, system co-ordination and accountability.

Most importantly, alongside these reforms, our new Pandemic Preparedness Strategy shows how the UK will build on the specific lessons from COVID-19, and ensure we are better ready and able to deal with pandemics in the future.

Our response to the Module 3 report takes this work further and sets out the actions we are taking to strengthen preparedness for future health emergencies. These include improving infection prevention and control governance, strengthening visiting rights, modernising health data systems through the Single Patient Record and strengthening psychological, emotional and occupational health support for the health and care workforce.

We recognise that meaningful change will require partnership working across all the nations of the United Kingdom, the NHS, local government, and the wider health and care sector. We are committed to working closely with our partners to ensure that the lessons of this report are fully embedded at every level, and in every region. We will continue to work on these issues to turn the lessons identified in the report into lasting change and ensure the country is better prepared for future threats.

While the Module 3 report is focused on healthcare systems, teams across health and social care have worked together to strengthen joint working between the two systems, so that people experience more integrated and person-centred care.

The upcoming Module 6 report will consider social care in more detail, and those findings will be carefully taken into account as the Government develops its plans for a National Care Service, and ensures that the social care system in our country gives people the dignity, support and security they deserve.

We owe it to all those who suffered during the pandemic, and all those who served on the front-line of that health crisis, to ensure that the failings of the past have been properly acknowledged and addressed, and that a stronger, more resilient health and care system will be built for the future.