Hesitancy about the Covid-19 vaccine is ‘disproportionately high’ among Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups
Responding to polling commissioned by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) which shows that BAME groups are less likely to want the Covid-19 vaccine, Dan Wellings, Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund, said:
‘These findings add to the mounting evidence that hesitancy about the vaccine is disproportionately high in some of the communities that have already been hardest hit by the pandemic.
‘Work to understand what is driving vaccine hesitancy within these communities is best done locally. Lessons need to be learned from recent government programmes that have fallen flat because they were too centralised and failed to adequately involve those who know and work closely with their local communities. It will also be important to regularly publish data on vaccine take-up by area, so efforts can be targeted on groups where uptake is low.
‘Without concerted efforts to get the vaccine to the most hesitant population groups, there is a risk the vaccination programme will further entrench the inequalities that have been so brutally exposed by the pandemic.’
Notes to editors
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