Minister declines to say if vaccine refusal data is being tracked

The vaccines minister has declined to say whether the Government is recording data on who has refused a coronavirus vaccine.
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Nadhim Zahawi said uptake was “incredibly high” in the UK, with 85% of adults accepting the vaccine, according to the Office for National Statistics, and the 15% skewing heavily towards black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities.

He acknowledged that recent research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which found that white people were twice as likely to have been vaccinated than black people, was “worrying”.

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The minister was asked three times on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme if refusal rates were being tracked.

Pharmacist, Minhal Master administers a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination centrePharmacist, Minhal Master administers a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination centre
Pharmacist, Minhal Master administers a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine at a temporary vaccination centre

He confirmed that everybody who had had the vaccine went into the national immunisation vaccination system.

But he did not say this was true of those who had declined a jab, instead referring to the “high” uptake among the first four priority groups.

Asked if the Government should be recording this, he said: “So we absolutely will look at how we are addressing the issue of refusal rates. At the moment, this is the highest uptake of any vaccination programme, including all the flu vaccination programmes, that NHS has run.

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“So currently the good news is the UK is the standout country in terms of people actually wanting to keep themselves safe by being vaccinated and of course keep their families and communities safe as well.”

It comes as Nadra Ahmed, chairwoman of the National Care Association, said quite a “high average was emerging, around the 20% mark” of social care staff refusing to have a Covid-19 jab.

Admitting the scenario was “quite a challenge”, Ms Ahmed said it was important to educate care workers about why they should get vaccinated.

She said: “We can’t compel anybody to have it but I do feel very optimistic about this because I think, as time goes on, some of the people who are refusing at this stage will feel more comfortable.”

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On Monday, NHS England said it had offered vaccines to every eligible care home with older residents, except a “small remainder”, to be confirmed by official figures later that day.

Downing Street also said all eligible care home staff had been offered a coronavirus vaccine and that figures expected on Monday would confirm this.

These figures have still not materialised and NHS England has not said when they will be published.

Earlier on Thursday, on Good Morning Scotland, Mr Zahawi said 91% of eligible residents had been given the vaccine.

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Asked in the House of Commons what percentage of all care home residents and all staff in England had received a jab, Mr Zahawi did not give an answer.

He said: “Last weekend was our target to make sure that every eligible care home in England – over 10,000 care homes – have actually been visited and received their vaccine. Only a handful of care homes who were deemed to have an outbreak weren’t visited.

“And we did – the NHS – quite rightly celebrated achieving that target last weekend, so I’m slightly saddened in a way that there is this sort of politicking between ourselves here around this issue, when we continue, as the shadow minister just asked me, to work very hard to make sure that staff in care homes are also offered the vaccine on those visits, and also actually an opportunity to be vaccinated in their primary care networks and of course in hospitals.”

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