Missteps and delay What we've learned from Covid inquiry in the last few weeks

The Covid inquiry has spent the past three weeks delving into the UK vaccine rollout and decision-making around new and existing therapies for infected and vulnerable people.

- Ian Sample Nicola Davis Hannah Devlin

Here we look at the key findings from the module, the fourth of 10, in the inquiry chaired by Lady Hallett.

The value of vaccines For all that went wrong in the pandemic, Britain's vaccination programme, the largest in the country's history, was a clear highlight. Historically, vaccines have taken many years to develop. In the pandemic, the first vaccines were designed, trialled and approved within 12 months.

The UK became the first country to authorise a Covid jab and on 8 December 2020, 90-year-old Maggie Keenan became the first person to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech mRNA vaccine outside clinical trials. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved weeks later.

In an opening statement to the inquiry, Hugo Keith KC said in its aim to protect at a population level, "the vaccine programme succeeded". In the first nine months, the shots prevented more than 23m infections and 123,000 deaths in the UK, where more than 90% of people aged 12 and over have received at least one dose. "It is beyond argument that vaccinated people were far less likely to get Covid-19 with symptoms," Keith said "They were even more unlikely to get serious Covid, to be admitted into hospital, or to die from it."

The creation of the vaccine taskforce (VTF), headed by the venture capitalist and Whitehall outsider Dame Kate Bingham, was a pivotal moment. Backed by £5.2bn from the Treasury, the VTF secured access to seven vaccines in development. Each was considered to have only a 5% to 10% chance of being safe and effective. "It was a form of spread-betting by any other name," Prof Jonathan Van Tam, the former deputy chief medical officer for England told the inquiry.

There were problems though. Ministers cancelled a contract with the French vaccine manufacturer, Valneva, weeks before its phase 3 trials reported. Bingham criticised the decision, saying it sent "the worst possible message to any future UK industrial investor or life sciences partner".