A Weymouth campaigner for children suffering with Long Covid has acknowledged the first report from the Covid Inquiry.

Sammie McFarland, founder of the charity Long Covid Kids, has said that chair of the Covid-19 Inquiry Baroness Hallett has made 'firm recommendations' after the findings of the first stage of the inquiry were released.

The first report from the inquiry focuses on Module 1, which looked at the resilience and preparedness of the UK for such a pandemic.

READ: Weymouth woman's fight against long Covid amid inquiry

Baroness Hallett said: "It was widely believed the UK was one of the best-prepared countries to respond to a pandemic. This belief was dangerously mistaken.”

Additionally, she noted that the most vulnerable will suffer in the next pandemic as they have in this one.

Mrs McFarland's charity supports 11,000 children who suffer with the effects of Long Covid and has been part of a group giving evidence and supporting the inquiry since it began in 2022.

Herself and her daughter Kitty both contacted Covid in 2020 and developed Long Covid.

READ: Weymouth woman tells how her battle with Long Covid goes on

The initial findings  presented by Baroness Hallett have given the campaigner 'confidence' that future reports - specifically those around the impact on children will be fair.

Mrs McFarland, said: "Baroness Hallett has made firm recommendations today. This report on Module 1 gives me confidence that, when presented with the full and substantive information, including direct representation for children and young people with lived experience, the impact of Long Covid on children will be addressed in Module 8, and that equally firm recommendations will be made."

READ: Weymouth mother develops resource for kids with long Covid

This news comes after Baroness Hallett provisionally denied the charity founded by Mrs McFarland to be a 'core participant' in the upcoming section of the inquiry.

Module 8 as it is known focuses on the impact the pandemic had on children and being denied an opportunity to be a key witness in this module has left Mrs McFarland 'profoundly disappointed'.