Vaccination hesitancy

Attitudes are positive but less so among some groups

POSITIVE attitudes towards the Covid-19 vaccine have increased to a record-high. More than nine in 10 adults (94%) were supportive of the vaccine between 17 to 21 March 2021, Office for National Statistics data shows..

It meant vaccine hesitancy in adults reduced to 6% - a small decrease from 9% recorded in December.

Tim Vizard, a statistician at the Office for National Statistics, says that despite growing approval for the Covid-19 vaccine, doubt remains in certain groups.

He said: “Over the past few months, we have seen attitudes across most of the population becoming more positive towards Covid-19 vaccination.

“However, there is still hesitancy among some groups, including young people, Black or Black British and those living in the most deprived areas.”

More than one in five (22%) Black or Black British adults reported vaccine hesitancy.

This is a significant reduction from 44% in the previous period, but still the highest percentage of hesitancy shown by an ethnic group.

Last month, Sir Lenny Henry wrote an open letter encouraging Black Britons to take the vaccine.

In the letter, he urged people to “trust the facts from our own professors, doctors, scientists involved in the vaccine's development, GPs, not just in the UK but across the world, including the Caribbean and Africa."

The data also revealed that people from ethnic minority groups were almost three times more likely to report hesitancy compared to white people.

Former Great British Bake Off winner Nadiya Hussain, alongside Asma Khan from Netflix's Chef's Table and MasterChef's Saliha Mahmood, have all backed a vaccine drive focused on the British Bangladeshi community.

Dr Nikki Kanani, national director for primary care at NHS England and practicing GP, says that the work of Nadiya and other celebrities is helping to build reassurance in the vaccine.

She said: “I am so grateful for the support brought by Nadiya, Asma and Saliha, who can help us to reassure people that the vaccine is safe, effective, and our best way out of the pandemic.

“We need to continue to build confidence in the vaccine amongst certain communities, and we are working hard to improve uptake, delivering vaccines at faith and community centres and providing information in multiple languages.”

Younger people are the most likely to be hesitant, with more than one in 10 adults aged between 16 to 29 feeling this way.

Adults in the most deprived areas of England were more concerned over the vaccine (12%) compared to those in the least deprived areas in England (3%).