The UK must “always remember” those affected by the infected blood scandal, inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff said at a memorial service.
It comes as charities said they were still getting daily calls from people “desperate to receive the compensation they are due”.
A memorial service for those affected was held at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on Tuesday, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and former prime minister Theresa May in attendance.
Sir Brian, chairman of the Infected Blood Inquiry, said the scandal “was not an accident” and “what caused it was human failure set upon human failure”.
Giving an address at the service, Sir Brian said: “Many knew instinctively that it could have been avoided.
“But most of those in authority would not accept there had been any such disaster, let alone inquire why it had happened.”
The memorial service took place two years after the inquiry published its main report.
The inquiry concluded the scandal “could largely have been avoided” and there was a “pervasive” cover-up to hide the truth.
More than 30,000 people in the UK were infected with HIV and hepatitis C after they were given contaminated blood and blood products between the 1970s and early 1990s.
More than 3,000 people have died as a result while survivors are living with lifelong health implications
Sir Brian added: “In remembering, we must not forget that what happened medically was compounded by intransigence, defensiveness and untruths peddled by many in authority for far too long.
“The horrifying scale of what happened is also why it is so important that as a nation we always remember, and that those who continue to suffer, continue to grieve, know that they are not alone.”
Symbolic empty chairs were placed in the congregation to represent people who died, as singer Michael Ball performed Empty Chairs At Empty Tables.
The service included poems written by members of the infected blood community and paper petals were dropped from the cathedral’s dome in memory of lives lost.
The Very Reverend Andrew Tremlett, Dean of St Paul’s, said the service was to “publicly recognise and remember the devastation wrought on thousands of lives and the untimely deaths of loved ones”.
He added: “This tragedy alone would be catastrophic enough. However, it has been exacerbated by the lack of public recognition and acknowledgment.
“For too long, the administration of life-changing and deadly viruses through contaminated blood and contaminated blood products has been hidden from public view.
“It has touched all corners of our United Kingdom and continues to take lives in the most cruel and harrowing ways.”
The partner of a man who died after being infected with hepatitis C said those who lost their lives as a result of the scandal have been “put at the bottom of the queue”.
Paula Butterworth’s partner John Louis Daly, who was a haemophiliac, died in September 2007 aged 42 after being infected with hepatitis C at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.
Speaking outside St Paul’s Cathedral ahead of the service Ms Butterworth, 52, said: “He left a 10-year-old daughter who’s now nearly 30, and you just can’t explain the impact it’s had on our life.”
The Hepatitis C Trust and the Haemophilia Society have called on the Government to speed up compensation payments for victims of the scandal.
More than £2 billion has been paid in compensation so far and the chairman of the compensation authority has said “there is still a long way to go”.
Some £11.8 billion has been allocated to compensate victims, administered by the Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA).
Figures from the IBCA show that up to May 7, some 3,232 people have had their compensation paid, with the combined payments totalling more than £2.1 billion.
Speaking ahead of the memorial service, Sir Keir said: “We stand with the infected blood community to bear witness to the lives lost and those changed forever.
“As a nation, we must ensure the lessons of this scandal are never forgotten.”
