Covid vaccines saved lives. Lots of them. Research by the World Health Organization (WHO) now puts the number at 475,000 in the UK with many more kept out of hospital or off a ventilator.
The jabs were a “scientific miracle” we were told at the time, our best hope of life returning to normal after months of lockdown restrictions. But something has happened in the years since. Research suggests confidence in all types of vaccination has taken a significant hit.
“It’s the great paradox of the pandemic,” says Dr Simon Williams, a public health researcher at Swansea University.
“One of the most successful innovations in public health history, the rapid development of Covid vaccines, has actually had the effect of reducing public confidence in vaccination.”