Recently published data by the Office for National Statistics shows that Black Caribbean and Black African people reportedly have the lowest vaccination uptake figures in the country at just 58.8 per cent and 68.7 per cent.
A first detailed examination of its kind, the study, breakdowns vaccine uptake across England by ethnicity, religion and disability. It further highlights that people who identify themselves as Bangladeshi and Pakistani had the next lowest uptake at 72.2 and 74 per cent, compared to 86.2 per cent for the white British population.
These statistics are worrying as research has demonstrated that individuals from minority backgrounds are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. One in three patients or 33% patients admitted to critical care with Covid-19 were from an ethnic minority group, despite making up just one in eight of the population ICNARC figures had explained.
SAGE, the Government’s scientific advisory group, also found last year found that up to 72 per cent of Black people were unlikely to take a Covid-vaccine and that Pakistani and Bangladeshi individuals were the next most-hesitant ethnic group. There has been plenty of vaccine mis-information campaigns on social media channels where some propagate the false narrative that taking the vaccine could mean violating certain religious norms. MPs, Mayors, councillors and public celebrities besides key workers have explained that being vaccinated is the safest way of not contracting the virus and stemming the infection rates.
The ONS data, recorded from 8 December 2020 and 11 March 2021, found that 90.2 per cent of adults aged 70 years and over had received the first dose of a coronavirus in England.
Ethnicity was shown to be a key characteristic in understanding vaccine trust. Black African people were shown to be 7.4 times more likely to not receive a jab compared with people of White British ethnicity. After adjusting for age, sex, socio-demographic characteristics and underlying health conditions, the odds were still 5.5 times greater.
Religion was also shown to be a key characteristic in vaccine uptake rates, with the lowest rates seen across people who identified as Muslim (72.3 per cent), followed by Buddhist (78.1 per cent).
