Public health chiefs in east London are upping their campaign to combat coronavirus vaccine hesitancy after figures show large disparities in uptake among different communities.
As well as pushing testing, public health bosses in Newham have found themselves battling misinformation around the vaccine.
Rumours about the vaccine’s side effects have circulated online and, in some cases, been pushed through letterboxes in the form of leaflet.
Almost 80 per cent of white elderly residents took the vaccine. The figures for the Asian population show a 70 per cent take up but just 44 per cent of Newham’s black over-80s had received the jab by January 26.
Director of public health in Newham, Jason Strelitz said: “We’ve got high numbers of residents from ethnic minority communities but there’s a level of hesitancy so we need to encourage them to get vaccinated."
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