LONDON (AP) – Sikh leader Balwinder Singh Barsa received the coronavirus vaccine on Sunday at the gurdwara Guru Nanak, a temple of religion located in Luton, north London. And I wanted everyone to know.
Unlike most of the 756,873 people who were inoculated on Sunday in Britain, Basra, the chairman of the gurdwara, invited journalists and broadcasters to witness the moment and thus ensure that his community pays attention.
“I tell everyone, ‘I got the vaccine this morning and everyone should get it and save'” to the National Health Service, said Basra, who wore a saffron turban for the occasion.
Although politicians such as Prime Minister Boris Johnson have been vaccinated in front of the cameras, local attempts to publicize the inoculations are much more important to combat the reluctance of some people from the country’s ethnic minorities to get vaccinated, according to Gurch Randhawa, Professor of Diversity in Public Health at the University of Bedfordshire.
In Luton, the Sikh community decided that the best way to celebrate the next holy festival of Vaisakhi was with a vaccination clinic, which embodies the principles of this religion of equality, justice and service. The festival is usually celebrated with prayers and large processions, but those celebrations were affected by the quarantine due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Forty people were vaccinated on Sunday, and another 40 are scheduled to receive the dose next week.
Britain has run one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in the world, applying at least one dose to half the population so far. But work has lagged in minority groups and marginalized communities.
A recent survey commissioned by the Department of Health and Welfare found that 72.5% of black people in England had received or would agree to receive the vaccine, compared with 87.6% of Asian residents and 92 , 6% of whites.
“There is a lot of misinformation on the internet, and that information is widely available,” said Dr. Manraj Barhey, a local general practitioner. “So even though (the acceptance among Sikhs) is not as poor as in other communities, it could still be better”.
The reluctance to receive the vaccine is the result of several problems, ranging from concerns about the safety of the inoculation to discrimination in the British health care system. Community leaders work to combat those fears with educational programs, local vaccination clinics, and even some photo opportunities.
