The first phase of the UK’s Covid vaccination programme is under way, with priority groups including health workers and vulnerable groups. But debate continues over who will get first access to the vaccine among the rest of the population.
Here, we look at the options.
Black and minority ethnic (BAME) communities
According to data from the Office for National Statistics for deaths between 2 March to 28 July 2020 in England and Wales, males of black African ethnic background had a death rate 2.7 times higher than those of white ethnic background, while among women the death rate was almost twice as high for black Caribbean females as white.
“All ethnic minority groups other than Chinese had a higher rate than the white ethnic population for both males and females,” the report says.
Dr Mohammad Razai, the lead author of a study on the issue from St George’s, University of London, said people from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to have poor outcomes if exposed to coronavirus.
“Therefore, any meaningful risk assessments should take ethnicity into account in combination with these other factors, and where it has been assessed that their risk is high, ethnic minority groups should be prioritised for Covid-19 vaccination,” he said.
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