Will you get the COVID vaccine?

[ICTChris]

A survey has been published suggesting that 72% of BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) people in the UK say they are unlikely to take the vaccine.

I don't believe that number but there is a pattern of black and Asian people being more likely to be hesitant or sceptical about vaccines.

Here's the news report about it - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9161705/SAGE-blames-institutional-racism-study-shows-72-black-Britons-unlikely-vaccine.html

 

Edited January 19, 2021 by ICTChris

[Stellaboz]

Then that 72% are a bunch of fucking idiots. 

[Dunfermline Don]

I got the vaccine last week. I work in social care so all our front line staff have been offered it.
I have also got an appointment made for the second dosage in April.

[craigkillie]

A survey has been published suggesting that 72% of BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) people in the UK say they are unlikely to take the vaccine.
I don't believe that number but there is a pattern of black and Asian people being more likely to be hesitant or sceptical about vaccines.
Here's the news report about it - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9161705/SAGE-blames-institutional-racism-study-shows-72-black-Britons-unlikely-vaccine.html
 

This is probably at least partly rooted in stuff like the Tuskegee Experiment, where black men in the US were used as guinea pigs in an unethical study into what happened if you didn't treat syphilis. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study

[ICTChris]

10 minutes ago, craigkillie said:

This is probably at least partly rooted in stuff like the Tuskegee Experiment, where black men in the US were used as guinea pigs in an unethical study into what happened if you didn't treat syphilis. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study

Yeah, I thought of that when I saw the story.

A colleague of mine once told me that there's also a big issue in the black community regarding mental health issues and use of sectioning, which I'd never realised.  Black people are many times more likely to be sectioned than any other ethnic group and this, apparently, contributes to a mistrust of doctors and other medical professionals among some black people.  

I think the UK government just announced a review of the Mental Health Act to deal with this, or try to.

[NotThePars]

Priti Patel’s being given those figures and already fantasising over making her own Bexhill Refugee Camp

[101]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

A survey has been published suggesting that 72% of BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) people in the UK say they are unlikely to take the vaccine.

I don't believe that number but there is a pattern of black and Asian people being more likely to be hesitant or sceptical about vaccines.

Here's the news report about it - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9161705/SAGE-blames-institutional-racism-study-shows-72-black-Britons-unlikely-vaccine.html

 

Considering they are most at harm that will be a real barrier to getting things back to absolute normality. Of course is doesn't help that the UKg "vaccine influencers" were almost exclusively white.

[The Moonster]

1 hour ago, ICTChris said:

A survey has been published suggesting that 72% of BAME (black, Asian, minority ethnic) people in the UK say they are unlikely to take the vaccine.

I don't believe that number but there is a pattern of black and Asian people being more likely to be hesitant or sceptical about vaccines.

Here's the news report about it - https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9161705/SAGE-blames-institutional-racism-study-shows-72-black-Britons-unlikely-vaccine.html

 

The Daily Mail posting something negative about minorities? My eyes must be deceiving me.

[The Other Foot]

P&Bers, just a little thought I've had for a while (and one which has resurfaced since a BBC article came out this morning)...

Is it morally wrong to refuse the vaccine, for the time being, on the basis that you are shocked at how little of the supply has been extended to the developing world so far? Is it wrong that I would be getting the vaccine so much faster than someone my age in Malawi, for example? 

Covax is undoubtedly a fantastic initiative, but it's not doing nearly enough. It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to have a world where the developed world is sufficiently immunized, but vast swathes of Africa and Asia are still cowering in fear. 

Just a thought, as I say. I haven't made up my mind yet. 

[The Moonster]

7 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

P&Bers, just a little thought I've had for a while (and one which has resurfaced since a BBC article came out this morning)...

Is it morally wrong to refuse the vaccine, for the time being, on the basis that you are shocked at how little of the supply has been extended to the developing world so far? Is it wrong that I would be getting the vaccine so much faster than someone my age in Malawi, for example? 

Covax is undoubtedly a fantastic initiative, but it's not doing nearly enough. It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to have a world where the developed world is sufficiently immunized, but vast swathes of Africa and Asia are still cowering in fear. 

Just a thought, as I say. I haven't made up my mind yet. 

If you refuse a vaccine, it won't go to someone in Malawi. The only thing it would do is delay you getting the vaccine. The problem here is obviously much deeper than distribution of a vaccine and I'm not sure me or you can do much to change that. 

[welshbairn]

You could put an argument together that the rich countries should get vaccinated first because they do most of the travelling and spreading. It's a bit feeble though, maybe you could feel less guilty about it by donating to Covax when you get your jab.

This is the most direct way I can find, it would be good if they set up a one for one advertising campaign so we could pay for someone else's jag when we get our free one.

https://www.cafonline.org/system/donate?dbid=b31d74883e1743a49e5c14c3937c4993

Edited January 19, 2021 by welshbairn

[Hillonearth]

1 minute ago, The Other Foot said:

P&Bers, just a little thought I've had for a while (and one which has resurfaced since a BBC article came out this morning)...

Is it morally wrong to refuse the vaccine, for the time being, on the basis that you are shocked at how little of the supply has been extended to the developing world so far? Is it wrong that I would be getting the vaccine so much faster than someone my age in Malawi, for example? 

Covax is undoubtedly a fantastic initiative, but it's not doing nearly enough. It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to have a world where the developed world is sufficiently immunized, but vast swathes of Africa and Asia are still cowering in fear. 

Just a thought, as I say. I haven't made up my mind yet. 

I saw the WHO guy on CNN this morning saying that some developing country he didn't name has managed to roll out a grand total of 25 vaccinations to date, which is going to be a huge issue down the line if the "haves" are vaccinated and the "have-nots" aren't leaving a huge reservoir of infection in the developing world.

And you refusing yours won't mean that shot will divert to the developing world - it'll either go to the next person on the list or go to waste. It's a situation that needs addressed, but as an intergovernmental logistic problem, not as a personal moral stand.

 

[Sergeant Wilson]

16 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

P&Bers, just a little thought I've had for a while (and one which has resurfaced since a BBC article came out this morning)...

Is it morally wrong to refuse the vaccine, for the time being, on the basis that you are shocked at how little of the supply has been extended to the developing world so far? Is it wrong that I would be getting the vaccine so much faster than someone my age in Malawi, for example? 

Covax is undoubtedly a fantastic initiative, but it's not doing nearly enough. It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to have a world where the developed world is sufficiently immunized, but vast swathes of Africa and Asia are still cowering in fear. 

Just a thought, as I say. I haven't made up my mind yet. 

I understand your point, but you must have loads of other advantages over people in Malawi that you use.

Eta, beaten to it by Mixu.

Edited January 19, 2021 by Sergeant Wilson

[hk blues]

23 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

P&Bers, just a little thought I've had for a while (and one which has resurfaced since a BBC article came out this morning)...

Is it morally wrong to refuse the vaccine, for the time being, on the basis that you are shocked at how little of the supply has been extended to the developing world so far? Is it wrong that I would be getting the vaccine so much faster than someone my age in Malawi, for example? 

Covax is undoubtedly a fantastic initiative, but it's not doing nearly enough. It's looking increasingly likely that we're going to have a world where the developed world is sufficiently immunized, but vast swathes of Africa and Asia are still cowering in fear. 

Just a thought, as I say. I haven't made up my mind yet. 

I live in one of those places likely to be towards the back of the queue for vaccines, but not as far back as some.  Personally, and as far as I can gather from those around me, nobody gives a f**k about such a relatively minor inequality when much worse inequality exists anyway.  In the same way, we don't really give a toss about those in Malawi for example.

Of course, if anything more than lip service was being paid to the idea of equal distribution, some form of matching would have been done i.e. 1 for the rich and 1 for the poor.  

Then again, the temperature here never dips below 25 so we're quids in! 

Edited January 19, 2021 by hk blues

[Disco Dave]

22 hours ago, latapythelegend said:

If people won't have it without good medical reason then they should be restricted like they are now. No travel, compulsory face masks and social distancing. 

 

 

Unfortunately, from what I see at work, most anti-vax people also don't care about masks or distancing.

[The Other Foot]

Some great points there. Clearly, refusing a vaccine in Europe doesn't make one pop up in Africa - but I suppose from a standpoint of personal reflection, it might seem a bit 'off' if you were to look back on this moment in the future in the full and certain knowledge that you took a vaccine while others weren't able. Of course, this ties in with the point that a couple of other folk have made, re. we also have running water, electricity etc. which some people do not have access to. I suppose my point is that these issues are deeply ingrained in economic and political reality, whereas the vaccine distribution is something that can be sorted right now - or perhaps we're past that point already. Covax is surely the answer, and I'd suggest that the UK has done a hell of a lot more than other countries in that respect. Still not enough, unfortunately.

So here's a twist on the original hypothesis - if the UK government were to say to you, "We are now out of the original batch and looking to order more, but would like to offer you the chance to donate your vaccine to someone in Africa" ...what would you say?

[Sergeant Wilson]

3 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

Some great points there. Clearly, refusing a vaccine in Europe doesn't make one pop up in Africa - but I suppose from a standpoint of personal reflection, it might seem a bit 'off' if you were to look back on this moment in the future in the full and certain knowledge that you took a vaccine while others weren't able. Of course, this ties in with the point that a couple of other folk have made, re. we also have running water, electricity etc. which some people do not have access to. I suppose my point is that these issues are deeply ingrained in economic and political reality, whereas the vaccine distribution is something that can be sorted right now - or perhaps we're past that point already. Covax is surely the answer, and I'd suggest that the UK has done a hell of a lot more than other countries in that respect. Still not enough, unfortunately.

So here's a twist on the original hypothesis - if the UK government were to say to you, "We are now out of the original batch and looking to order more, but would like to offer you the chance to donate your vaccine to someone in Africa" ...what would you say?

Naw!

[hk blues]

5 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

Some great points there. Clearly, refusing a vaccine in Europe doesn't make one pop up in Africa - but I suppose from a standpoint of personal reflection, it might seem a bit 'off' if you were to look back on this moment in the future in the full and certain knowledge that you took a vaccine while others weren't able. Of course, this ties in with the point that a couple of other folk have made, re. we also have running water, electricity etc. which some people do not have access to. I suppose my point is that these issues are deeply ingrained in economic and political reality, whereas the vaccine distribution is something that can be sorted right now - or perhaps we're past that point already. Covax is surely the answer, and I'd suggest that the UK has done a hell of a lot more than other countries in that respect. Still not enough, unfortunately.

So here's a twist on the original hypothesis - if the UK government were to say to you, "We are now out of the original batch and looking to order more, but would like to offer you the chance to donate your vaccine to someone in Africa" ...what would you say?

I'd definitely say Yes, it's morally and ethically the right thing to do, but not Africa.  I'm thinking Asia, and with countries beginning with a P.

[The Other Foot]

Just now, hk blues said:

I'd definitely say Yes, it's morally and ethically the right thing to do, but not Africa.  I'm thinking Asia, and with countries beginning with a P.

That's fine mate, mine's away to Pakistan 

[welshbairn]

5 minutes ago, The Other Foot said:

Some great points there. Clearly, refusing a vaccine in Europe doesn't make one pop up in Africa - but I suppose from a standpoint of personal reflection, it might seem a bit 'off' if you were to look back on this moment in the future in the full and certain knowledge that you took a vaccine while others weren't able. Of course, this ties in with the point that a couple of other folk have made, re. we also have running water, electricity etc. which some people do not have access to. I suppose my point is that these issues are deeply ingrained in economic and political reality, whereas the vaccine distribution is something that can be sorted right now - or perhaps we're past that point already. Covax is surely the answer, and I'd suggest that the UK has done a hell of a lot more than other countries in that respect. Still not enough, unfortunately.

So here's a twist on the original hypothesis - if the UK government were to say to you, "We are now out of the original batch and looking to order more, but would like to offer you the chance to donate your vaccine to someone in Africa" ...what would you say?

Ashamed to say I'd throttle a granny in Scotland to get mine now so I'm properly protected for my holiday at the end of April.