BAME needed for vaccine trials

SLOUGH: People from black and minority ethnic backgrounds in Slough are needed to take part in COVID-19 vaccination studies.

The NHS-supported vaccine studies are taking place in Slough, but so far there has been an underrepresentation from black and Asian ethnic groups.

According to Public Health England, people from black communities are more likely to be diagnosed with COVID-19, and people from black and Asian backgrounds are more likely to die from it, but it is still not known why.

People from all backgrounds are needed for the vaccine trials so it can be ensured they are effective for everyone.

For those who do sign up for the trials, there is no obligation to take part and people can withdraw from them at any time.

Maheshi Ramasamy, consultant in Infectious Diseases and Acute General Medicine and orincipal investigator at the University of Oxford’s Oxford Vaccine Group said: “We know that people from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds are disproportionately affected by COVID in terms of severe disease and mortality. So when we do have a vaccine that we roll out to the general population, it’s really important that we can demonstrate to people from these communities that we have evidence the vaccine works.”

Sign up to the research registry at www.nhs.uk/researchcontact