Clinics urge South Asian community to take up vaccine

Doctors are targeting the South Asian community in a bid to encourage take up of the Covid-19 vaccine.

There has been concern about a low uptake of the vaccine among the community after a study found they were targeted with anti-vaccine messages.

A clinic was organised in Dudley on Wednesday with 60 people taking the opportunity to be vaccinated.

Dr Masood Ahmed, chief medical officer for the area, said he was really encouraged by the take up.

He said he had been concerned about the damage the misinformation being spread could do.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) published a report that found 57% of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people said they would take a Covid vaccine, compared with 79% of white people.

The organisation also found certain ethnic and religious communities were being targeted with anti-vaccination messaging online. These included querying the vaccine's longer-term effects and whether the ingredients were vegetarian or halal.

"This [vaccine] is safe, this is effective, this is halal," Dr Ahmed said.

At the clinic, each person who attended was given the opportunity to ask questions about the vaccine before getting the jab.

Among those receiving their first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine was Mohamed Ali and his wife Hamida.

"Everybody should do this vaccination for the safety of your family and also for the country," Mr Ali said.

Faith leaders are also joining the calls to dispel the myths and encourage some of the most vulnerable to get vaccinated.

"There's a lot of fake news out there," Imam Ghulam Rasool said. "One of the issues we have is credible information to give people an informed choice."

"Many out of caution won't take the vaccine," he said, and called for more to be done to make sure "authentic data is presented and available accessible in community spaces".

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