HIGH-profile health experts and community leaders came together to bust persistent myths around Covid-19 vaccination.

The session was held at the Millan Centre, in Manningham, supported by Kesser Jewellers, and was recorded so it can reach a wider audience through C44, which is aimed primarily at Urdu-speaking Asian audiences.

The driving aim behind the event, which was organised by Rukeya Miah, deputy association director of nursing and senior midwife at Bradford Teaching Hospitals, Saliha Sadiq from the Millan Centre and Councillor Sabiya Khan, chair of the British Muslim Women’s Forum, was to empower and inform people about the Covid-19 vaccine and promote uptake.

They sat on the panel along with centre chair Elizabeth Hellmich MBE; Dr Nicola Cawley, consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology in Bradford; Gavin Miller, chief pharmacists and clinical lead for the Airedale vaccine centre; Professor Dinesh Saralaya, consultant respiratory physician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals and Jaspreet Sohal, chief pharmacist at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Data from the Government shows that 61.1 per cent of people in the Manningham area have had a first dose; 52.7 per cent of people have had two doses, while 20.3 per cent of people have had a booster or third dose.

Saliha, who is vice chair and director of the mental health hub at the Millan Centre, who also works at the University of Bradford and in the NHS, said vaccine hesitancy is a "big issue" within BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) communities, with language barriers and misinformation contributing to the issue.

"We knew we had to act on this, we wanted to know why people were reluctant to have the vaccine," Saliha said.

"It's been amazing. It's made such a big difference. They felt confident they could back and tell their family members, their friends and say 'look, this is all a myth'."

Saliha said people were able to open up about their concerns - and get answers from the medical professionals sat in front of them.

"It was just so nice for the service users to feel important, that somebody was actually listening to them," she said.

She said it was a "huge success" particularly because senior experts were on hand.

"It's well-known, especially within the BAME community, that there's less percentage of people coming forward, even now," said Saliha. 

"They had so much fear and anxiety around the vaccine, so it's cleared a lot of things.

"This has made a difference because we got the community involved, centre users came, community members came and medical professionals were there."

Rukeya added: "It's very important for us, the clinicians to continue to speak to people about their concerns about vaccine hesitancy and delays - especially in settings that people are comfortable such as the Millan Community Centre.

"My thanks to Saliha Sadiq for hosting and Sabiya for supporting and helping to organise the event"

The programme is due to air on C44, available via Sky on 756, before the end of the month. It will also be available to view on YouTube after the broadcast date.