“Vaccine hesitancy” because Asian communities do not trust government, says top doctor
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By Barnie Choudhury
Politics is interfering “far too much” with caring for sick patients during the pandemic.
That is according to the chair of the British Medical Association, Dr Chaand Nagpaul.
Speaking during the second Ramniklal Solanki Pioneers Project Fireside Chat, the BMA chair said the government must acknowledge that structural racism existed in the NHS and was having a direct impact on treatment.
“Politics has interfered far too much,” he told a virtual global audience. “As a doctor, it has interfered with the health service for far, far too long.
“There's no doubt that it's hard to reconcile the political statement in September that said that structural racism has no part to play with what has been a clear government commissioned scientific report from public health doctors who actually do understand inequalities.”
The interview was part of a series of events organised by the University of Southampton’s India Centre and the Asian Media Group, which owns Eastern Eye.
“When the government says it's following the signs, well, it really does need to follow those clear messages. Scientific advisers in the government also highlighted the structural racism that has impacted on ethnic minorities during COVID.
“That was in July. So, I remain mystified as to why we're not seeing this. It's obviously a political judgement, and certainly not a scientific one.”
No confidence
Nagpaul also said that south Asians and black minorities had no confidence and did not
not trust the government’s handling of the pandemic.
“There has to be an open acknowledgement that there is structural inequality, that there is bias, that there is an impact that is negative on ethnic minority people in my case in terms of the health service,” he said.
The GP from north London also rejected the term “vaccine hesitancy”, often used to describe minority communities who refused to have their jab.
“I don't believe that any ethnic minority person I've met is hesitant about a medical intervention that may save their lives, that may save the lives of their family member, or their community, especially given they've seen the devastating impact of COVID.
“What we are witnessing is a lack of trust, a lack of confidence in government messaging that has existed throughout the pandemic. We knew about this back in June, when Public Health England highlighted the need for culturally competent messaging.
“The government didn't address that at that moment in time. And now we're seeing the impact of that lack of trust and confidence and recording it vaccine hesitancy. That's just not correct.”
The Department of Health and Social Care refused to comment on claims that politics was getting in the way of treating patients during COVID.
It also did not answer the specific question of whether vaccine hesitancy in some ethnic groups could be caused by a lack of trust in the government.
Instead, a government spokesperson said, “Throughout this unprecedented global pandemic we have been guided by advice from of scientific and medical experts.
“There is clear evidence COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted certain groups and we are doing everything we can to protect and minimise the risk to the most vulnerable individuals and communities.
“We are also working closely with the NHS and faith and community leaders, to support and reach people who are eligible for a vaccine, by providing advice and information in over thirteen languages, as well as partnering with local charities and directors of public health.”
Denied vaccination
Nagpaul’s comments coincide with criticism from the comedian Paul Chowdhry, whose mother recently passed away and was refused the vaccine.
Paul Chowdhry (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for Brit Asia)
On Thursday (25 February) he Tweeted, “My mum was turned down for the vaccine when she asked, despite being in what the government described as a high risk group, as well as caring for my elderly father during his radiation treatment. Tragically for her, and us, she was unnecessarily refused”.
In the same thread, Chowdhry wrote, “My family aren’t anti-vaxxers; neither are most people I know from the ‘BAME’ community. In fact, I know more non-Asian anti-vaxxers.”
It said that Office for National Statistics data from early December 2020 to early January 2021, showed that fewer than half (49 per cent) of black adults reported they were likely to have the vaccine.
Covid disparity
It also quoted the latest OpenSAFELY data which showed that approximately 60 per cent of black people over 70 had been vaccinated. This was compared to 75 per cent for south Asians and nine in 10 white people.
“It goes back to the issue of categorising prioritisation on an age basis, without looking at other risks of an individual,” said Nagpaul.
“I don't know, Paul's mother's specific medical circumstances, but there are many, many, many ethnic minority people who are at high risk and have been at high risk, who don't fit the need for priority groups who have other medical conditions, who are by their nature of being from an ethnic minority at higher risk of COVID.
“I've been very open that that should have been addressed as part of the vaccination programme. Things have actually now improved, because there is now a risks calculator being used that is using ethnicity as part of the risk.”
The government report also said that disparities “have improved for some ethnic groups including Black Africans, Black Caribbean, Chinese and Indians but have worsened for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis.”
“Structural discrimination has been present for decades, and it isn't that COVID has somehow highlighted something new, it has reinforced those inequalities,” responded the BMA chair.
“I don't think that the government acted promptly with what we uncovered last April onwards. I think that back in June, when the Public Health England review was published, it was very clear that we needed to do much more about engaging with communities building trust, building confidence, having culturally competent messaging.
“And in fact, as the months went by, we didn't see any change. The messaging was woefully culturally insensitive.”
The Department of Health and Social Care refused to comment on claims that it accepted that structural racism existed as a factor for minorities being disproportionately affected by the virus in the June 2020 PHE review, but rejected the idea in the October race disparity report.
A week before the government’s latest disparity report, DHSC updated its list of people shielding. It said it was “using a new predictive risk model which combines factors including underlying conditions, age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index and the postcode where people live and its link with deprivation.”
“The latest data shows that this is not a one-size-fits-all situation,” acknowledged equalities minister, Kemi Badenoch. “Our response will continue to be driven by the latest evidence and data and targeted at those who are most at risk.”
Unconvincing government
The man who leads the doctors’ union remains to be convinced.
“The science was very, very clear that there were people who are at high risk of infection and the consequences of it, but that were not in the priority groups,” Nagpaul said.
“The GCP [good clinical practice] guidance has a couple of sentences that says that allows for local flexibility to address inequalities, as they relate to ethnicity.
“Those lines are there, but they're buried way in a document where everyone was chasing to hit the first four priority groups by the middle of February. That is what everyone was doing. There was no local flexibility being used.
“And I think that was really unfortunate, because large numbers of people were not being prioritised for the vaccine when they should have been.”
Simon Stevens (L) and Britain's Health and Matt Hancock (R) (ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP via Getty Images)
Throughout the pandemic the BMA chair has written several times to the head of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens and health secretary, Matt Hancock, complaining about the lack of protection for his members.
The association said that 90 per cent of doctors who have died working on the COVID front line were from black Asian minority ethnic heritage.
“I have to be highlighting those statistics,” he said. “I shouldn't be having to highlight them. What Simon Stevens, what NHS England, what the government needs to be doing is saying this is unacceptable.
“We cannot preside over such inequality. You need to get to the heart of the problem, and that is not about a tick box.
“It's not about saying, as we found during COVID, an exercise that said we're going to just now risk assess everyone. It is about actually making transformational change in terms of those root structural causes.”
Joined-up thinking
Another prominent south Asian who is also critical of the government is the former chief prosecutor in the north west of England, Nazir Afzal.
Afzal’s brother, Umar, died from the virus last April.
In January he Tweeted that he had instructed his lawyers to see whether what the prime minister “did or didn’t do amounts to gross negligence or misconduct in public office & what consequences should follow”.
“People have died or suffered serious harm that could have been prevented if the government had been prepared and responded sooner and in a more joined up way,” Afzal told Eastern Eye.
“They saw what was happening elsewhere in the world and failed to learn lessons from the countries that have handled it best.”
The BMA chair is also concerned that structural racism is affecting the future of the black and Asian doctors in the NHS.
“If I look at the NHS and we see unequal access to medical schools, and we're doing a lot of work in trying to widen participation.
“When you start at medical school, a young aspiring doctor, you're faced with up to four times the level of bullying and harassment if you come from an ethnic minority background, that is what our statistics have shown.
“When you then look at the career in medicine from the career of a young doctor, there is absolutely unequivocal evidence that your chances of passing exams, postgraduate exams are lower if you come from ethnic minority background.
“If you've been trained in the UK, you have lesser chances of being shortlisted for more senior jobs, which is why you see far fewer BAME doctors in consultant posts. So, you've got this differential right from an early age, and that that is because of structural racism, the structural inequalities.”
The Department for Health and Social Care and NHS England refused to answer when we asked them to comment on whether there was a culture of bullying and structural racism stopping black and Asian doctors progressing to senior posts.
Analysis: What does the data reveal?
As of 25 February 2021, almost three-quarters of a million south Asians have had their first virus vaccination, according to NHS England data.
The 2011 Census data, which is 10 years out of date, showed 3.8 million south Asians lived in England and Wales.
That suggests that about 19 per cent have had their first dose.
As of 17 February 2021, a third of south Asians aged between 16 and 69, who are shielding, have been vaccinated, according to OpenSAFELY, a collaboration between the University of Oxford, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
“One of the facts around our political system is there are so many different players,” said the chair of the BMA, Dr Chaand Nagpaul. “If I'm speaking to NHS England chief executive, Simon Stevens, I'm not speaking to the Department of Health in the same context.
“Then you've got the Number 10 policy unit, which is different from the Department of Health. So, there are different players. I don't know why, because to me, it just seemed so clear that what we witnessed last summer was so wrong.
“We saw such inequality in the way in which this virus impacted on certain sectors of the community.
“I still cannot understand why more hasn't done at the time, and why there was such tardiness in the response. It remains a mystery why we haven't seen the changes that were necessary.”
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission and Keir Starmer, prime minister of the UK greet each other, ahead of their bilateral meeting at the 6th European Political Community summit on May 16, 2025 at Skanderbeg Square in Tirana, Albania. Leon Neal/Pool via REUTERS
PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer is set to sign a new deal with the EU seeking to reset ties after Brexit, his office said ahead of landmark talks.
Starmer will meet on Monday (19) with EU chiefs for the first post-Brexit EU-UK summit aimed at agreeing steps towards a closer relationship between Britain and the 27-country bloc which it left five years ago after an acrimonious and knife-edge referendum.
"This week, the prime minister will strike yet another deal that will deliver in the national interest of this country," Downing Street said in a statement, also pointing to recent trade deals with the US and India.
Britain left the EU in 2020, but the prime minister has been trying to boost ties with the country's biggest trading partner.
Starmer will welcome EU bosses Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa as well as top EU diplomat Kaja Kallas for Monday's talks at the storied Lancaster House venue in London.
"The prime minister will set out how a strengthened, forward-looking partnership with the European Union will deliver for working people and lead to more money in pockets," the statement said.
Talks looked set however to go down to the wire due to last-minute squabbling over long-standing issues, such as fishing rights and food checks.
But negotiators were hopeful of at least signing a defence and security partnership.
Starmer, elected Labour prime minister last July, wants a deeper relationship with the European Union than the one negotiated by the previous Tory government.
That deal "isn't working for anyone", Starmer's office said.
The move is aimed at opening the door to closer cooperation as both the EU and Britain race to rearm in the face of the threat from Russia and fears the US under president Donald Trump will no longer help protect Europe.
That should mean more regular security talks, Britain considering joining EU military missions and the potential for London to fully tap into a $167 billion (£137bn) defence fund being set up by the bloc.
But Starmer has several red lines he has said he will not cross, while sticking points remain over some EU demands that threaten to stall the rapprochement.
In an interview with The Times on Saturday (17), Starmer said a deal would be a "really significant moment".
Starmer has ruled out rejoining the customs union and single market but has suggested that the UK is ready for regulatory alignment with the EU on food and agricultural products.
EU diplomats in Brussels have been working on getting Britain to keep its waters open for European fishermen in return for easing the checks on some food imports from the UK.
And Starmer appeared to have made a key concession by agreeing to an EU demand and clearing the way to let young Europeans live and work in Britain under a youth mobility scheme.
While freedom of movement was a "red line," he told The Times, "youth mobility is not freedom of movement".
Starmer is approaching the scheme cautiously under pressure from rising support for Nigel Farage's anti-immigration and Euro-sceptic party Reform UK, which made huge gains in local elections earlier this month.
He said late Saturday in a statement that on Monday "we take another step forwards, with yet more benefits for the UK as the result of a strengthened partnership with the European Union".
"In this time of great uncertainty and volatility, the UK will not respond by turning inwards, but by proudly taking our place on the world stage."
A 27-YEAR-OLD American-Lebanese man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison for attempting to murder novelist Salman Rushdie at a New York cultural event in 2022.
Hadi Matar was convicted in February of attempted murder and assault after he stabbed Rushdie, leaving the author blind in one eye.
In Chautauqua County Court, Matar received the maximum sentence of 25 years for the attack on Rushdie and seven years for assaulting the event’s moderator. Judge David Foley ordered both sentences to run concurrently.
Rushdie did not attend the sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement.
Matar also faces separate federal terrorism charges that could lead to a life sentence.
Video footage played during the trial showed Matar rushing the stage and stabbing Rushdie with a knife.
"It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain," Rushdie told jurors, adding that he was left in a "lake of blood."
Matar, who stabbed Rushdie about 10 times with a six-inch blade, shouted pro-Palestinian slogans during the trial.
He told the media he had only read two pages of Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses but believed the author had "attacked Islam."
His lawyers tried to stop witnesses from describing Rushdie as a victim of persecution linked to the 1989 fatwa by Iran that called for the author's death over alleged blasphemy in the novel.
Iran has denied any involvement and said Rushdie alone was responsible for the attack.
Life-threatening injuries
Rushdie’s right optic nerve was severed. His Adam's apple was lacerated, and his liver and small bowel were punctured. He also suffered permanent nerve damage in one arm, leaving one hand paralysed.
Bystanders intervened to stop Matar during the attack. In 2023, Rushdie published a memoir called Knife about the incident.
His publisher announced that a new short story collection, The Eleventh Hour, will be released on 4 November 2025.
Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai and moved to England as a child, gained prominence with his 1981 novel Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize for its depiction of post-independence India.
But The Satanic Verses drew intense controversy and led to global protests. Following the fatwa, Rushdie lived in hiding in London for a decade before moving to New York, where he had lived relatively openly for two decades before the 2022 attack.
The UK is expected to enjoy warm weather this weekend, with temperatures forecast to reach up to 23°C, higher than those in Ibiza. The mild conditions come after a week of sunshine, with London hitting 24°C on Wednesday.
Most parts of the country are likely to experience sunny spells and above-average temperatures over the weekend. However, northern and eastern areas may see cooler conditions, along with patches of drizzle.
While the warm weather is expected to extend into the early part of next week, forecasters have indicated that the bank holiday weekend could bring more unsettled conditions, including rain in some regions.
The anticipated rainfall would be timely, as the Environment Agency has issued a warning of a medium risk of drought in England this summer. This follows a relatively dry start to spring, raising concerns about water levels heading into the warmer months.
Although the warm spell is a welcome change, experts are continuing to monitor weather patterns closely ahead of the summer. Britons are being advised to enjoy the sunshine while it lasts, with the outlook for the long weekend remaining uncertain.
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Lammy also commented on India’s decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty, saying, 'We would urge all sides to meet their treaty obligations.'
FOREIGN SECRETARY David Lammy said on Saturday that Britain is working with the United States to ensure the ceasefire between India and Pakistan holds, and to support confidence-building measures and dialogue between the two sides.
Speaking in Islamabad at the end of a two-day visit, Lammy said, “We will continue to work with the United States to ensure that we get an enduring ceasefire, to ensure that dialogue is happening and to work through with Pakistan and India how we can get to confidence and confidence-building measures between the two sides.”
Pakistan has said that Britain and other countries, along with the United States, played a key role in helping de-escalate the recent fighting between the two countries. The ceasefire was brokered on May 10 after diplomatic efforts, but diplomats and analysts have said it remains fragile.
Tensions rose after a deadly attack on tourists in Kashmir, which India has blamed on Pakistan. Pakistan has denied involvement. Both countries fired missiles onto each other’s territory during the escalation.
US president Donald Trump has said talks should take place in a third country but no venue or dates have been announced.
“These are two neighbours with a long history but they are two neighbours that have barely been able to speak to one other over this past period, and we want to ensure that we do not see further escalation and that the ceasefire endures,” Lammy said.
Lammy also commented on India’s decision to suspend the Indus Water Treaty, saying, “We would urge all sides to meet their treaty obligations.”
India had said last month that it had “put in abeyance” its participation in the 1960 treaty that governs use of the Indus river system. Pakistan has said any disruption to its water access would be considered an act of war.
Lammy said Britain would continue to work with Pakistan on countering terrorism. “It is a terrible blight on this country and its people, and of course on the region,” he said.
Lammy criticised Russia following brief talks with Ukraine on a potential ceasefire. The meeting ended in under two hours, and Trump said no progress was possible until he met Russian president Vladimir Putin directly.
“Yet again we are seeing obfuscation on the Russian side and unwillingness to get serious about the enduring peace that is now required in Ukraine,” Lammy said. “Once again Russia is not serious.”
“At what point do we say to Putin enough is enough?” he said.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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Using forged documents claiming he had a law degree and a false CV, Rai gained employment at two law firms in Gloucestershire and a construction company in Bristol.
A 43-year-old man has been sentenced after using fake identity documents and forged academic certificates to secure jobs at law firms and a construction company.
Aditya Rai was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court to 20 months, suspended for two years, and ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work. He had pleaded guilty to fraud, forgery, and identity-related offences.
The court heard Rai used a false passport and a fake UK driving licence under the name Ali Ryan, with a photo of himself and a false date of birth. He also opened bank accounts under the same false identity.
Using forged documents claiming he had a law degree and a false CV, Rai gained employment at two law firms in Gloucestershire and a construction company in Bristol. In total, he earned around £10,000 before resigning from one firm and being dismissed from another following reference checks, according to Gloucestershire Police.
He had previous convictions, which he concealed by using a false identity. A search of his home in June 2022 led to the seizure of his laptop, which contained fake documents and a forged driving licence.
Rai had been on remand since February 2025 after being arrested at a port with a false Irish licence. He was identified by his tattoos and arrested for failing to attend court.
He also admitted to an offence investigated by North Wales Police involving a fake Republic of Ireland driving licence. Two further fraud offences were taken into consideration.