Bame Poor Vaccine Take-Up

[Paigntonian]

Woman from Runnymead Trust said on TV this afternoon that black Britons were in many cases unable to visit vaccine centres because of their poverty and the remoteness of centres. She also said that black health workers had been the first hit with the virus due to racism. One despairs.

[bobbinwales]

Heres the caller who thought blacks were being scared into it.
https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/iain-dale/that-is-just-a-lie-iain-dale-challenges-this-covid-sceptic-caller/

The last LBC caller last night said the NHS had never done anything for afrocarribbean people in its history so its suspicious there showing an interest now. No way will black people fall for it. The caller before was sayong its wrong that black people should be guinea pigs for an untested vaccinne and gave examples from hundreds of years of history.
To me the best thing is to say we've tried to put the info out there, its up to you. Darwin award candidates. Yes there putting others at risk but more themselves.
Trouble is while some are saying they are being demonised or blackmailed, others will say why isnt more being done to increase the access.

IMO getting politicians and black/BAME celebrities to encourage it is going to be reinforce there mistrust. The only way forward is for doctors to speak up more in those communitys and ring patients up who have'nt been in to discuss it

[davebro]

isn't the use of "blackmailed" racist?

[emmie]

as i said earlier district nurses can take the vaccines to the people.
that is one way to deal with this. If the likes of the government, Lenny Henry and his friends can't persuade them then who can.

it doesn't say much about the amount of black people in the NHS or care home workers, have they refused the vaccine....

[youngmafbog]

I'm not sure doctors ringing them would help here. It would be seen as coercion by people who have taken the 'white shilling' and reinforce the view they are Guinea pigs.

The underlying problem here is mistrust in the Government, and who can really blame then after the torrents of mistruths and fear mongering of the past year which will have reinforced views they already had (And not just Non whites either).

Where do we go from there? I dont know.

[woofgang]

emmie, I understand from the TV coverage that a problem for care workers, in particular those who give care in people's homes is affording to travel to vaccination centres by public transport. I have no idea if this is true or not. If it is true, surely it would be the same accross all ethnicities....on the other hand, I know that the pay is not good.

[emmie]

don't think there is any truth in that woof, 2 women care workers, one from caribbean background and the other African, were interviewed on tv a month or two ago, both had covid 19 at some point, but were very reluctant to take the vaccine, they gave many reasons, none plausible.
suggest there is a lot of mistrust in the BAME community, of the vaccine, the police, those in authority... what do you do in that case.

[youngmafbog]

Its not just the BAME community that have all those concerns though is it.

And its not BAME anymore!
https://news.sky.com/story/boris-johnson-told-to-scrap-use-of-bame-label-as-critics-brand-it-unhelpful-and-redundant-12259929

[emmie]

it is still Black, Asian Minority Ethnics as far as i am aware. if they have changed it again, well...

[woofgang]

two things emmie,
number 1 access via public transport might be a factor...if you are dubious about doing something but its really easy to do or you are indifferent about doing it and its difficult to do then you are less likely to do it. I call it rolling the rock....many tiny shoves will roll it in one or the other direction.
the second is about bame....its not useful....the nearest analogy I can think of is putting scottish people in a group with those who live on Jersey....and that's not even taking into account that people of different ethnicities have differing hereditary illnesses.

[emmie]

if you are a care worker - in a care home surely the vaccines would have been offered already to staff and residents. there would be no travelling in that case

[emmie]

i really don't care for acronymns in the case of black, asian people, but if the last one isn't acceptable then change it to something that is.

[naomi24]

I take exception to the content of Danny’s link to Runnymede. How dare they say black people have been neglected by this government. Perhaps they haven’t kept up with the news. The government has been saying for months that ethnic minorities are more susceptible to Covid and they’ve made enormous efforts to encourage them to take the vaccine. People like these are determined to create racism and division - and they use every opportunity.

And I don’t believe for a moment that people in towns and cities don’t have access to vaccination centres. Even here in the middle of the country, where our nearest centre was, when vaccines were first rolled out, a 60 mile round trip, we now have pharmacies etc., in towns and villages offering vaccinations. No one has any excuse. Load of rubbish.

[woofgang]

emmie "if you are a care worker - in a care home surely the vaccines would have been offered already to staff and residents. there would be no travelling in that case"

care homes maybe, I don't know....but carers who give care in people's own homes?