Understanding and tackling COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in ethnic minorities in south-west London

Problem

The implementation of an effective vaccination programme is a crucial step in ending the COVID-19 pandemic. Vaccine hesitancy poses a significant barrier to the successful vaccination of the population with around 18% of the population likely to be vaccine hesitant. Vaccine hesitancy is significantly higher amongst ethnic minority groups compared to those of White ethnicity. This is particularly worrying as people from ethnic minorities have an increased risk of mortality from COVID-19 compared to their White counterparts. Therefore, there is a need for effective interventions to combat vaccine hesitancy in ethnic minority groups.

Approach

The intervention focused on contacting places of worship in South West London which have a high proportion of people from ethnic minorities in their community, and supporting the faith leaders in combatting vaccine hesitancy. An initial email was sent to 12 religious organisations, which explained the project and asked for their support. After this they were called, and enquiries were made on whether faith leaders would be willing to encourage vaccine uptake. Participating individuals were offered support throughout the process to help deal with any specific queries that individuals in their community had. An interview with the faith leader was scheduled one week later to discuss the impact of the intervention.

Findings

Of the 12 organisations contacted, 5 organisations responded and 1 was willing to address vaccine hesitancy in their congregation. We recruited a South West London Evangelical Church who agreed to discuss COVID-19 vaccinations during online meetings. The interview with the Head of the Church revealed a high level of vaccine hesitancy due to concerns about safety, worries about BAME individuals being used as “guinea pigs” to test the vaccines and religious concerns that the vaccines “had the mark of the beast”. Furthermore, individuals in the community were concerned about the effects on fertility and whether the vaccine altered DNA. A repeated issue that was identified was the negative impact that social media misinformation had on the community. The pastor successfully organised sessions with his congregation where he discussed and dispelled false rumours surrounding the vaccine. Overall, the pastor described a large shift in attitudes towards the vaccine with even some who initially firmly opposed vaccination agreeing to be vaccinated.

Consequences

We believe contacting influential and trusted faith leaders is an effective method in combatting vaccine hesitancy in ethnic minority populations. Targeted, tailored, culturally-competent campaigns that address the root causes of vaccine hesitancy in BAME groups with the full engagement of community champions and religious leaders, is supported by evidence and will be useful in overcoming vaccine hesitancy and increasing COVID-19 vaccine uptake.