Vaccination rates continuing to lag among ethnic minority groups, new figures show

Lowest uptake rate seen among people aged 70 and over who identify as black African

Vaccination rates are continuing to lag in black African and other ethnic minority groups in England, new figures show.

Around four in 10 people aged 70 and over who identify as black African are unlikely to have received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose up to 11 March, according to the Office for National Statistics.

At 58.8 per cent, this is the lowest vaccination rate among all ethnic minority groups, the ONS said.

For black Caribbean groups, the rate stands at 68.7 per cent, and rises to 72.7 per cent and 74.0 per cent for people from Bangladeshi and Pakistani backgrounds respectively.

The highest rate of vaccination, at 91.3 per cent, continues to be seen among the white British population.

Previous NHS data showed that white people in the top vaccine priority groups were more than twice as likely to have received the jab as black people in the early stages of England’s vaccination programme.

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Uptake of the vaccine also varies according to religious affiliation in adults aged 70 and over, the ONS said, with the lowest rates (72.3 per cent) recorded among Muslims.

And disabled people in the same age group had lower rates of vaccination (86.6 per cent) up to 11 March compared with those who were non-disabled (91 per cent).

Ben Humberstone, a health analysis statistician at the ONS, said: “Vaccination rates are markedly lower amongst certain groups, in particular amongst people identifying as black African and black Caribbean, those identifying as Muslim, and disabled people.

“These differences remain after accounting for geography, underlying health conditions and certain indicators of socio-economic inequality.”

Marsha de Cordova, the shadow secretary of state for women and equalities, accused the government of “failing to tackle vaccine hesitancy and historical issues of structural racism”.

“The pandemic has had an unequal impact on black, Asian and ethnic minority people but the vaccine offers hope,” she told The Independent. “We need to vaccinate Britain, and that means a plan to ensure that black, Asian and ethnic minority people benefit equally from the vaccine too.”

Vaccine hesitancy among minority groups has repeatedly been flagged as a cause for concern by health experts and doctors, who are fearful that certain communities will remain vulnerable to Covid-19 as restrictions are gradually lifted over the coming weeks.

Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said last month: “When the virus has no one to spread into because most of the adult population is vaccinated, it will try and find those groups that are unprotected and that’s my big fear, that once it gets into particular communities it will go through them like wildfire.”

Dr Habib Naqvi, director of the NHS Race and Health Observatory, has said that language and cultural barriers play a part in the false information being distributed within some communities.

“We need to be clear to our communities that there is no meat or meat products in the vaccine,” he said in January. “There is no pork, there is no alcohol and it has been endorsed by religious leaders and religious councils.

“Organisations and officials are working with social Asian role models, community leaders, influencers, religious leaders, to help to debunk some of the myths that are out there.”

As part of efforts to tackle low uptake rates and misinformation, celebrities and high-profile figures from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds have publicly encouraged minorities to accept the vaccine when offered it.

In January, the UK Household Longitudinal Study showed that up to 72 per cent of people from black groups said they were unlikely or very unlikely to be vaccinated. Among Pakistani and Bangladeshi groups, this figure was 42 per cent. Eastern European groups were also less willing.

A separate report published by the government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies said that historical issues of unethical healthcare research, and structural and institutional racism and discrimination, were key reasons for lower levels of trust in the vaccination programme.

Earlier this month, the government was urged to reconsider its coronavirus vaccine allocation strategy, with doctors, academics and public health campaigners calling for the targeted inoculation of vulnerable ethnic minority groups in the second phase of Britain’s rollout.

In a commentary published by the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, a group of experts said that the UK’s “colour-blind” approach puts ethnic minorities at higher risk of illness and death from Covid-19.

The authors said the strategy disregards the unequal effects of the pandemic on minority groups, who have suffered from some of the highest Covid mortality rates, and risks exacerbating health disparities within these communities.