In her Module 4 Covid Inquiry report published on 16 April 2026, Inquiry Chair Baroness Heather Hallett identified the success of the vaccine and therapeutics programme as a “huge achievement” whilst also acknowledging the flaws in the programme affecting disabled people and their carers and identifying improvements that are required before the next pandemic.
The Inquiry has heard in previous modules that people with learning disabilities aged 18-34 were 30 times more likely to die from Covid-19 in the pandemic.
With regard to the wider community of disabled people, the report confirmed that “from January 2020 to March 2022 the majority of Covid-19 deaths in England occurred among Disabled people” and that across the different waves of the pandemic disabled people “had a significantly greater risk of death from Covid-19 than non-disabled people, even after accounting for factors including socio-economic and demographic characteristics and vaccination status”. These statistics, Baroness Hallet concluded: “reinforce the importance of ensuring that disabled people do not face barriers to vaccine uptake”.
Despite this, the Chair found various failures in the vaccine rollout around the prioritisation of disabled people and their carers, the identification of unpaid carers and ensuring that vaccines and therapeutics were properly accessible.
She recommend greater collaboration with Disabled People’s Organisations in planning for any future pandemic.
Shamik Dutta, Caleb Simpson, Leila Mani-Lundie and Rachel Cope-Thompson act for Disability Rights UK, Disability Action Northern Ireland, Disability Wales and Inclusion Scotland in the Covid-19 Public Inquiry. They instructed Danny Friedman KC and Robbie Stern at Matrix Chambers and Kate Beattie at Doughty Street Chambers in Module 4.
See press release here.
Read the Module 4 Inquiry report here: https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/module-4-full-report/.
