Councils urged to build community spirit to help reduce health inequalities
A toolkit to help local areas increase their community spirit beyond the pandemic has been published by the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH).
A report from RSPH found that while community spirit increased during the first lockdown, so did social anxiety, distrust around following government guidance, and fears about the future of local areas.
It found that people in the lowest skilled occupations and the unemployed - as well as those with disabilities, physical or mental health conditions - were least likely to benefit from this rise in community spirit.
UK COVID-19 Update: Mix & Match Jabs Trial, Tributes to Lost Colleagues
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Cutting through the noise
January 29, 2021
A disparity in attitudes towards receiving the Covid-19 vaccines has emerged in the UK between white and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities.
A report by the Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH), first published in December 2020, showed that only 57 per cent of respondents from BAME communities would receive the vaccine when offered compared to 79 per cent of white respondents.
One major reason behind this disparity has been the targeted use of misinformation which has deterred members of specific communities from taking the vaccine. This was confirmed by the chief executive of RSPH, Christina Marriott, who stated on the report: “Anti-vaccination messages have been specifically targeted at different groups, including different ethnic or religious communities.”
NHS England are set to introduce ethnicity data recording into vaccination system
HESITANCY: African-Caribbean people have been urged to come forward for the vaccine (Image: via Getty Images)
NHS England will begin collecting the ethnicities of those that receive the COVID-19 vaccine in coming days, according to the Health Service Journal (HSJ).
Jabeer Butt, Chief Executive of the Race Equality Foundation welcomed the news, and was keen to see what the data would reveal.
It is hoped that the move will ensure there is clear information around which ethnic groups are and are not taking the vaccine, therefore preventing any misconceptions.
Doctors have expressed fears over fake news causing South Asian people to reject the Covid vaccine over false claims that the jabs contain alcohol or meat and can alter patients DNA.
It comes as Leeds-based Imam Qari Asim, who is chair of Mosque and Imams National Advisory Board, said a slow uptake of the Covid-19 vaccine within Muslim communities could fan the flames of Islamophobia .
Dr Harpreet Sood, a Global Digital Health Advisor, said language and cultural boundaries are partly responsible for the false material spread via social media and WhatsApp.
The practising doctor is working on an NHS anti-disinformation campaign with South Asian influencers and religious leaders to disprove myths about the jab.
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