I agree - to a point. European guidances specify though than plain language summaries must accompany results of clinical studies (accompany - not replace). This, along with the fact that an increasing number of journals are going fully or partially open access, indicates a trend towards improving access to scientific knowledge for the public. Because why should this knowledge be privileged? A significant proportion of it is after all publicly funded. And as the OP u/davotk has shown, lay summaries are quite easy to write if you have any experience in communications with lay audiences. Likewise, they should be fairly easy for the paper’s authors to write. I think this bridge to the generally public is a very important positive step in science communication, personally.

I get that the previous comment to which you were responding was unnecessarily snarky. But there is a grain of validity in there as well.