Misinformation misery

By Amit Roy

LORD SWRAJ PAUL tells me he and his wife, Aru­na, have had the first and the second doses of the vaccine (the Pfizer-BioN­Tech one, he thinks).

“One of the privileges of age,” says Swraj, who will turn a sprightly 90 on February 18. “I’m happy that I’ve had the vaccine.”

If the vaccine is good enough for Swraj, who experienced no ill effects, it ought to be good enough for everyone else. Yet, there are some Asians who have lived in Britain for years and years, but are still mentally trapped in the middle ages. They talk nonsense about de­clining the vaccine on re­ligious grounds.

Britain remains a won­derfully free country, so it is their right, however perverse, to refuse to be vaccinated. But the gov­ernment should also is­sue a warning that so long as they pose a risk of infecting others, they should remain at home – or face a hefty fine. Other people have their human rights, too.

The BBC’s Sima Kote­cha revealed last week that some south Asians “had refused the vaccine when offered it” by a GP in the West Midlands.

The report also quoted Dr Harpreet Sood, who is leading an NHS anti-dis­information drive: “We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in it. It has been accepted and endorsed by all the reli­gious leaders and councils and faith communities.”

Dr Samara Afzal, who has been vaccinating people in Dudley, West Midlands, was also quot­ed: “We’ve been calling all patients and booking them in for vaccines, but the admin staff say when they call a lot of the south Asian patients, they de­cline and refuse to have the vaccination. I’ve had friends calling me telling me to convince their par­ents or their grandpar­ents to have the vaccina­tion because other family members have convinced them not to have it.”

Patience is at a premi­um when the NHS can barely cope with the pan­demic. Why add to the nation’s problems? Most weeks I hear from friends of loved ones lost for ever.

Ultimately, one can do only so much to persuade people who would much rather risk catching Covid. But those spreading fake news, either by word of mouth or on Facebook or Twitter, should be made aware they are commit­ting a criminal offence and prosecuted.