By KLTV Newsdesk –
KLTV’s Tatiana Zaituni recently sat down with Kirklees Council’s Strategic Director for Public Health, Rachel Spencer-Henshall, to discuss various topics around COVID-19 and Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Communities.
In the series of videos below, Tatiana discussed several topics with Rachel, including taking a look at how the council is addressing concerns around the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine, as well as how further data is collected on BAME communities after it was revealed last year how such communities have been adversely affected by the pandemic.
Vaccine Hesitancy
In this first video below, Tatiana asks Rachel about what is being done locally to tackle the issue of rumours and hesitancy in BAME communities around accepting the COVID-19 vaccine.
Recent studies from the Universities of Glasgow and Essex have found that there are high levels of what they describe as ‘vaccine hesitancy’ amongst those from BAME communities, despite an overall positive number of people willing to be vaccinated.
‘Your body, your choice’
This next video looks at how Kirklees Council is specifically addressing concerns from local communities about the overall safety and effectiveness of the various COVID-19 vaccines that are being used.
Many people have expressed various reasons as to their hesitancy around accepting the vaccine, whether it be a lack of trust in its safety or the potential of side effects.
For local councils such as Kirklees, addressing the concerns and queries that people and communities have, should be a number one priority.
Data Gathering
The final video in this series looks at how the data around vaccine uptake in BAME communities is recorded and used to further support efforts to increase acceptance of and reduce hesitancy around the COVID-19 vaccine.
Last year, health inequalities for those of black and south Asian backgrounds were thrown into stark relief as figures confirmed they had a greater risk of death from COVID-19.
Further investigation brought to light a need for better and more accurate data gathering when it comes to BAME communities accepting the vaccine.