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Black And Asian Medics Urge Britain's Minority Communities: Get The Covid Jab
It was not until she turned up at work on the morning of December 9 that May Parsons realised she was going to receive the first dose of her Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine – just a day after she had administered the world’s first to 90-year-old Margaret Keenan.
As a nurse working in the respiratory wards at Coventry Hospital, Parsons was deemed at high risk of contracting the virus from the highly acute and sick patients she looks after.
“When I was told I could [get the jab], I was definitely relieved and felt very hopeful. It was like an answered prayer,” she tells HuffPost UK.
Her friend and colleague Debbie administered her first dose at 5pm on that Tuesday. “I had a slight discomfort on my left arm on the day after but was absolutely fine on the second day,” she said. On December 30, she received her second dose.
“I had the same discomfort on my left arm but didn’t stop me from working all day. I did feel slightly achey when I went to bed that night and took some paracetamol. I was back to my normal self the next day.”
Parsons describes a “huge relief” washing over her once it was over. “I still practise social distancing like before and wear my PPE all the time at work, but I feel better now. I feel very privileged and grateful – it shows our healthcare system cares, values and protects the welfare of frontline staff, from the ward managers and nurses to the cleaners and porters.”
Parsons says she had no qualms about getting vaccinated; after all, she witnesses the devastating effect of coronavirus on her patients each day. “I was ready and a firm believer of the science behind the vaccine,” she says. But she has spoken to other people from the Filipino community in the UK who have been less enthusiastic about the jab.
Across the country, there is growing evidence that reluctance towards the vaccine is worryingly high among people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups. A recent study by the Royal Society of...
