People seriously harmed by Covid vaccines face an "inadequate and ineffective" process to access government grants, with many being refused and others waiting years for a decision, a Covid inquiry has heard.

The Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme provides a one-off payment of £120,000 to people who have a serious adverse reaction to a vaccine that leaves them at least 60% disabled. But people affected by vaccine injuries told the inquiry they were not receiving the help and financial support they deserved.

"The program is inadequate and ineffective. It delivers too little, too late, too little," said Kate Scott of Vaccine Injury and Bereavement UK. "There should be a fair compensation scheme and the government should plan for this, knowing that if something is 100 per cent safe and effective and rolled out to so many people, people are going to get hurt and people are going to die."

Scott's husband, Jamie, developed a rare blood clot in his brain after receiving the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine shot. Despite being in a coma for a month, he survived but is now partially blind and has cognitive problems that Scott said will prevent him from working again.

While Jamie received vaccine damages, Scott said the amount was not enough for many people. Some in the group are using food banks and moving. "This is just additional trauma to what we're already struggling with," she told the inquest.

Others missed payments entirely because they didn't meet the 60% disability threshold, Scott said. She said that as of November 30, 17,519 people had made claims to the Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme, with more than 1,000 still waiting for a decision after a year and 126 still waiting for a decision almost three years later.

As well as calling for reforms to the vaccine damage compensation scheme, Scott said doctors and the public should be informed of serious side effects as early as possible so they can be treated early.

The latest module of the Covid inquiry focuses on vaccines and treatments, which are widely seen as a rare bright spot in the UK's response to the pandemic. The rapid rollout of the vaccine means the UK is one of the countries that will benefit most from the lives saved by the vaccine.

Speaking at the opening on Tuesday, the inquiry's lawyer Hugo Keith KC said expert evidence commissioned by the inquiry showed "overwhelmingly" the UK ran a "robust and complex system" to ensure the highest Level of security. He said: "The overwhelming evidence shows that the UK's coronavirus vaccine successfully protects the British people from a virus that is killing or could kill hundreds of thousands of people."

"Side effects can be encountered with any medication, but serious side effects, while very rare, can still be serious and debilitating," he added. "For those who do suffer serious side effects, and even worse for the very small number of people who have loved ones die from it, it is of course a complete tragedy and there is no mention of the rarity of these people. To reduce This loss can or should have dire consequences," he said.

Keith added that references to the "obvious and well-known fact" that in rare cases vaccinations can have serious side effects "should never be used to seek to undermine the important public role vaccinations play in keeping people healthy." platform for the role of health in preventing disease, or trying to prove that vaccination is not unequivocally beneficial at the population level. "

A spokesman for the NHS Business Services Authority said: "Since taking over the Vaccine Damage Compensation Scheme from the Department for Work and Pensions in November 2021, we have significantly expanded our team to speed up claims and deal with the continued high volume of claims." Upon arrival of a new claim, continue to have personalized contact with the claimant and contact the health care provider to obtain medical records as soon as possible.

"Some healthcare providers may take a long time to send us medical records, without which we are unable to progress claims to the independent medical assessment stage. This has resulted in delays for some claims, which we acknowledge can be frustrating Frustrated.”