BMA urge ethnic minorities to get Covid-19 vaccine

It comes in response to recent research by the ONS (Office for National Statistics) that shows the lowest rate of take-up of the jabs in the over 70s is amongst black African, black Carribean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities.

Just over a fifth (20.3 per cent) of Bradford's population are of Pakistani ethnic origin - the largest proportion in England.

Environment Secretary George Eustice explained this morning that in some areas where the fast-spreading Indian variant of coronavirus is rife, the vaccine uptake has been "a little bit lower" than the national average.

He told Sky News the Government could not rule out some areas being held back as restrictions are eased elsewhere and that exiting the pandemic was dependent on the vast majority of people having the vaccine.

Speaking to LBC Radio, he said: “We will only be able to exit this pandemic when the vast majority of people have had the vaccine.”

The Cabinet minister acknowledged the need to boost vaccine uptake in communities that were hesitant about receiving a jab.

Mr Eustice told Sky News: “We’ve been doing a lot in recent months to get those communities who are a bit more hesitant to engage with this programme to have the vaccine.

“I think maybe in those areas when they see the resurgence of the virus, it may prompt them to think ‘actually, this is serious, the vaccine is effective, it is preventing the spread of this in other areas so now let’s get it’.

“We just need to keep redoubling our efforts in some of those hard-to-reach communities to get to see that having the vaccine for all of us is the best way out of this terrible pandemic.”

The BMA has worked with a group of influential social media creators to produce a number of short informative video posts for Instagram.

These explain that everyone who can be, needs to be vaccinated, so that the risk of infection and illness reduces and life can get back to normal.

The camp leads with the theme "Spread the word, not the virus" and encourages people to get vaccinated by using positive, upbeat messages, drawing from the personal experiences and hopes of the individuals in the videos.

The clips, which have been viewed more than 400,000 times so far, feature people like GP Dr Arora and activist Daniel Asaya.

Mr Asaya says in his video: “We all want to get back to normal, to hug each other again.

“I wanted to be a part of this campaign to tell my friends that vaccinations are safe and that they are the key to unlocking our futures again.

"We’re all keen to get our lives back and this is the way it’s going to happen.”

The BMA is supporting the social campaign with online material aimed at signposting and myth-busting about vaccinations.

This includes explanations of some of the reasons why people might be mistrustful and many personal anecdotes from doctors from a range of different communities talking about how they are handling these kinds of discussions with family and friends.

It is hoped this more informal approach will appeal to younger generations - particularly to those aged 20-40 – and will encourage this audience to share the message with elder family members and friends, who may be nervous or hesitant about having their vaccination.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, BMA chair of council, said: “We have consistently led the debate about the inequalities facing those from ethnic minority communities during Covid-19.

"We know that, at the height of the pandemic, people from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to contract Covid-19, to become seriously ill and to tragically die from the virus.

“The pandemic exposed, exacerbated and magnified these inequalities affecting ethnic minority communities across the UK.

"But we also know vaccine uptake remains lower within these communities and that is why we are backing this campaign.

“We are delighted to be working with these social media creators and we are grateful to them for giving up their time.

"The first videos have already been viewed over 400,000 times and what we’re asking now is for people to spread the word about the benefits of vaccinations in the hope that we might all tackle some of the uneasiness and mistrust around them.

"We understand why people might be fearful, and we really want to help. We’re asking you to take a look at the campaign, read the materials and then make up your mind.”

But there are suggestions from some figures that rising infection rates in certain areas are not simply down to a lack of vaccine uptake.

Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi said part of the problem was there was poor organisation rather than reluctance to have a jab.

Meanwhile, Dr Zubaida Haque, a member of independent Sage, told Good Morning Britain that the Government should have “stalled” the lifting of restrictions on Monday.

She said: “What the Government should have done was to stall this stage of the road map, particularly because we didn’t pass test four –  test four of the Government’s road map said that if we think that there’s any further risk from new variants of concern, we should stall – they completely ignored that and have gone ahead.

“The Health Secretary has suggested that this is about vaccine hesitancy, but at the moment his conclusion seems to be based on hospitalisations in Bolton of 18 people, of which a third have been vaccinated.

“Now he’s suggesting that of the 11 or 12 they didn’t have their vaccine when they were offered, but we don’t know why they didn’t take up their vaccine – it may have been medical reasons, it may have been other reasons.

“This whole notion that, that at the moment, everyone’s freedom is threatened because of vaccine hesitancy groups, is absolute nonsense.

“The main threat at the moment is this (new) variant is highly transmissible – it’s 50 per cent more transmissible than the Kent variant – and it is rapidly spreading across the country.”

For more information on the BMA's campaign, vaccines and to read personal experiences from healthcare professionals, visit: bma.org.uk