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New research confirms racism in healthcare settings increases vaccine hesitancy among ethnic minority groups

A new study examining the associations between racial and ethnic discrimination and COVID-19 vaccine refusal has found that one in ten people from ethnic minority groups who refused a vaccine experienced racial discrimination in a medical setting since the start of the pandemic. They also experienced twice as many incidents of racial discrimination than those who had accepted the vaccine.

The results of the survey, published by the Journal of the Royal Society of 51短视频, indicate a direct effect of racial discrimination on low confidence in the health system to handle the pandemic, which in turn predicted vaccine refusal.

The study participants included 633 adults belonging to ethnic minority groups who were offered a COVID-19 vaccine between December 2020 and June 2021. 6.69% of participants who had refused the vaccine reported they had experienced poorer service or treatment than other people in a medical setting because of their race or ethnicity.

Lead author Dr Elise Paul, Senior Research Fellow in Epidemiology and Statistics at UCL, said: 鈥淥ur findings confirm evidence from before the current pandemic, which found associations between experiences of racial discrimination and distrust of the health care system and physicians among ethnic minority adults.鈥

The researchers say that their findings underscore the importance of the role of the NHS in regaining trust from ethnic minority groups to increase vaccine uptake among these diverse groups.

The researchers say that public health campaigns to increase COVID-19 vaccine uptake in ethnic minorities should include not only trust-building in vaccines, but also strategies to prevent racial and ethnic discrimination and support people who have experienced discrimination.

Dr Paul added: 鈥淓fforts to raise confidence in COVID-19 vaccines have been insufficient to prevent inequalities in vaccine uptake. Therefore, more work is urgently needed to mitigate the unequal and severe effects of the pandemic on ethnic minority populations.鈥

Dr Mohammad Razai, Research Fellow at the Population Health Institute, St George鈥檚 University of London: 鈥淥ur study shows how racial discrimination erodes trust in the system and prevents ethnic minorities from engaging with the NHS. Failure to tackle racial discrimination would lead to a widening of systemic inequalities putting more ethnic minority lives at risk.鈥

Notes to editors

Racial discrimination, low trust in the health system and COVID-19 vaccine uptake: a longitudinal observational study of 633 UK adults from ethnic minority groups鈥(DOI: 10.1177/01410768221095241) by Elise Paul, Daisy Fancourt and Mohammad Razai will be published鈥痓y the Journal of the Royal Society of 51短视频 at 00:05 hrs (UK time) on Friday 6 May 2022.

The link for the full text of the paper听鈥痺hen published鈥痺ill be:听丑迟迟辫蝉://箩辞耻谤苍补濒蝉.蝉补驳别辫耻产.肠辞尘/诲辞颈/蹿耻濒濒/10.1177/01410768221095241听

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Rosalind Dewar听

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The鈥疛ournal of the Royal Society of 51短视频鈥(JRSM) is a leading voice in the UK and internationally for medicine and healthcare. Published continuously since 1809, JRSM features scholarly comment and clinical research. JRSM is editorially independent from the Royal Society of 51短视频, and its editor is Dr Kamran Abbasi.听

JRSM is a journal of the Royal Society of 51短视频 and it is published by SAGE Publishing.听

Sara Miller McCune founded鈥疭AGE Publishing鈥痠n 1965 to support the dissemination of usable knowledge and educate a global community. SAGE is a leading international provider of innovative, high-quality content publishing more than 1000 journals and over 800 new books each year, spanning a wide range of subject areas. A growing selection of library products includes archives, data, case studies and video. SAGE remains majority owned by our founder and after her lifetime will become owned by a charitable trust that secures the company鈥檚 continued independence. Principal offices are located in Los Angeles, London, New Delhi, Singapore, Washington DC and Melbourne.鈥

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