LONDON – Health experts, doctors and government officials in Britain are calling for a more concerted campaign to address vaccine hesitation among minority groups, with some also calling for these groups to be designated as a priority for coronavirus immunization because they are at greatest risk.
The government said on Monday that it would give 23 million pounds, or about $ 31 million, to local councils and other groups in England to encourage vaccines among those most at risk from the virus, including minority groups, trying to combat the disease. disinformation and build trust in the authorities.
The pandemic has already highlighted persistent racial inequalities in Britain, which played a role in the disproportionately high rates of infection and death among minority groups and, some say, deepened their distrust of the government.
Recent research has shown that members of black, Asian and other minority groups in the country are less open to receiving the vaccine than whites because they are concerned about the vaccine’s reliability. Britain’s drug regulator, seen as a regulatory agency, said vaccines are safe and effective.
“I am aware that some Londoners are hesitant to receive the Covid vaccine because they are from communities that in the past have been disappointed by institutions,” said Mayor Sadiq Khan of London. “But these vaccines are safe and effective, and I ask everyone who is invited to receive one to do so.”
The risks could hardly be greater for countries to deal with skepticism and anxiety about vaccines. The British government is betting on a campaign to vaccinate tens of millions of people by April, as an escape route from the blocks that stop and start and their paralyzing economic consequences.
Maureen Pryce, a 58-year-old former Caribbean descent caregiver, said she stopped taking vaccines after one of her daughters suffered a negative reaction a year ago. Even with family members sick with the virus and the number of deaths increasing in her neighborhood, she said she was determined.
“I will not accept. I refuse, ”she said this month. “How can we trust you?” she said from the authorities. “You have a history of lying to us.”
There are deep-seated reasons for distrust of health care among minority groups, experts say, with a history of abuse and racism in the medical field. For 40 years, ending in 1972, doctors intentionally did not treat African American men infected with syphilis to study the course of the disease. In Nigeria, Pfizer agreed to a $ 35 million deal with the state of Kano after 11 children died in a 1996 trial of an experimental meningitis drug.
And two French doctors sparked protests last April when they suggested that Covid’s vaccines should be tested in African countries, where people had less access to personal protective equipment.
As an increasing number of people received the vaccine without incident, the general hesitation of the vaccine appears to be decreasing in Britain, according to a YouGov survey in January. On Monday, about 6.5 million in Britain, out of a population of about 67 million, received the first dose of the vaccine.
But in a survey of 12,035 people commissioned by the government’s scientific advisory group, the vaccine’s hesitation was greatest in black Britons and those in Pakistan, Bangladesh and other ethnic backgrounds.
In Birmingham, for example, a health official said anecdotal evidence suggested that about half of people belonging to minority groups who were invited to receive vaccines refused them, according to the BBC.
Minority group members are not the only skeptics. Many, in fact, are “desperate” for a vaccine that did not come fast enough, said Halima Begum, chief executive of Runnymede Trust, a London-based organization that advocates for racial equality, adding that she had two brothers with Covid-19 at the Hospital.
Still, health experts and lawmakers have asked to collect more data on the vaccine’s launch in different ethnic backgrounds, which they say does not exist, and to improve messages about the vaccine’s safety to people of color.
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Answers to your vaccine questions
While the exact order of vaccine recipients may vary by state, most will likely put doctors and residents of long-term care facilities first. If you want to understand how this decision is being made, this article will help you.
Life will only return to normal when society as a whole obtains sufficient protection against the coronavirus. Once countries authorize a vaccine, they will only be able to vaccinate a few percent of their citizens, at most, within the first two months. The unvaccinated majority will still remain vulnerable to infection. An increasing number of coronavirus vaccines are showing robust protection against disease. But it is also possible for people to spread the virus without even knowing they are infected, because they have only mild symptoms or none at all. Scientists still do not know whether vaccines also block coronavirus transmission. For now, even vaccinated people will need to wear masks, avoid crowds indoors and so on. Once enough people are vaccinated, it will be very difficult for the coronavirus to find vulnerable people to infect. Depending on how quickly we, as a society, achieve this goal, life may begin to approach something normal in the fall of 2021.
Yes, but not forever. The two vaccines that will potentially be authorized this month clearly protect people from getting sick with Covid-19. But the clinical tests that provided these results were not designed to determine whether vaccinated people could still spread the coronavirus without developing symptoms. This remains a possibility. We know that people naturally infected with the coronavirus can transmit it as long as they have no cough or other symptoms. Researchers will be studying this issue intensively as vaccines are launched. In the meantime, even vaccinated people will need to consider possible spreaders.
The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine is given as an injection into the arm, like other typical vaccines. The injection will be no different than the one you took before. Tens of thousands of people have already received the vaccines and none have reported serious health problems. But some of them experienced short-term discomfort, including pain and flu symptoms that usually last for a day. People may need to plan a day off from work or school after the second injection. Although these experiences are not pleasant, they are a good sign: they are the result of your own immune system facing the vaccine and developing a potent response that will provide lasting immunity.
No. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use a genetic molecule to prepare the immune system. This molecule, known as mRNA, is eventually destroyed by the body. The mRNA is packaged in an oily bubble that can fuse with a cell, allowing the molecule to slide inward. The cell uses mRNA to make proteins from the coronavirus, which can stimulate the immune system. At any given time, each of our cells can contain hundreds of thousands of mRNA molecules, which they produce to make their own proteins. As soon as these proteins are produced, our cells fragment the mRNA with special enzymes. The mRNA molecules that our cells make can survive just a matter of minutes. The mRNA in vaccines is designed to resist the cell’s enzymes a little more, so that cells can produce extra proteins from the virus and stimulate a stronger immune response. But mRNA can only last a few days at most, before being destroyed.
Opposition lawmakers have pressed the secretary of health, Matt Hancock, to consider adding minority groups to a vaccine priority list, citing mortality statistics. Doctors received some guidance from the National Health Service to prioritize ethnic minority groups if they were already eligible because of age, said Prof. Martin Marshall, president of the Royal College of General Practitioners.
The Health Department said that vaccination priority would be given to older adults and those with underlying health problems, including black groups and ethnic minorities.
But primary care physicians, particularly those working in multiethnic areas, expressed concern about vaccine skepticism.
To combat misinformation, local authorities and community leaders have been sending messages in several languages that approved vaccines, although accelerated, are considered safe and effective.
But misinformation abounds online. There are unfounded claims that the vaccine is a method of population control, that it can alter the DNA of a recipient or that it contains products of animal origin, such as pork, which can lead to conflicts with some religious practices.
Imams are dedicating sermons this month to reassure the Muslim community that the vaccine is halal and to advise people to take it, if offered. Doctors are conducting Zoom sessions answering questions for the Sikh community.
Rhoda Ibrahim, leader of the British-Somali community in London, said that videos with Somali actors were created to raise awareness about testing, wearing masks and vaccines.
Nadhim Zahawi, the Iraqi-born British minister responsible for implanting the vaccine, told BBC Radio last week that he feared that minority ethnic groups would disproportionately refuse the vaccine and become infected more quickly. But he said on Monday that he is working with religious and community leaders to create awareness that vaccines are safe.
Still, many say the British government should have invested much earlier to address these concerns.
Glory Nyero, a black housing and social care analyst from London, said she grew up wary of the healthcare system and feeling that British institutions do not always understand people by heart.
“In the end, I’ll get it if I have to,” she said of the vaccine, adding that she feared that her newborn could contract the virus.
“Hearing that the vaccine was only tested and applied in one year – it creates a lot of hysteria,” she said.
Government critics said that in a year in which racial injustice became a global focus, lawmakers did not do enough to protect people of color, despite a data review that showed glaring disparities in the number of coronaviruses.
“A policy of color blindness harms those who are most affected,” said Begum, of the Runnymede Trust. She says she wants urban areas, where many minority groups live, to be vaccinated first.
Part of the pandemic toll chasm may come from long-standing disparities in wealth and housing, said a government review, also noting that people of color were more likely to take jobs with greater exposure to the virus, such as health and food production.
They were also more likely to have pre-existing health problems, such as diabetes and obesity, the review added, which increased the risk and severity of the infection, and may be less likely to seek help when needed due to historical racism and experiences negative health and work conditions.
Salman Waqar, a family doctor and secretary general of the British Islamic Medical Association, is among those working to persuade people to get vaccines.
“Any community that has been ignored and neglected is especially vulnerable,” he said. “This vulnerability has now been exploited by the incoming anti-vaccine message.”
Benjamin Mueller contributed reporting.