The number of doses of coronavirus vaccine delivered so far in the UK is impressive — 50.1 million people have had a first jab, 45.8 million a second and already 9 million have had a third.
But about five million eligible adults and teenagers have yet to come forward even for a first dose.
Government advisers believe that while a hardcore minority of antivaxers will never be persuaded to get a jab, many have genuine concerns that have not been addressed or face barriers making or getting to appointments.
Persuading that latter group to come forward will require patience and persuasion. There is a risk, experts stress, that more forceful approaches such as requiring vaccination passports in some circumstances, or making them a condition of employment in health and social care, could backfire and simply entrench opposition.
Professor Adam Finn, who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said the fact many European countries now have a greater share of the population fully vaccinated should prompt some soul searching.
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He said: “We need to ask ourselves why more UK people have not come forward. Are we failing to communicate effectively? Did we send out a message that the pandemic was over too loudly and too soon? Are there ways to make vaccination more accessible?
“France has a lot of vaccine hesitancy — they have made life very inconvenient for unvaccinated people. Is that approach appropriate in the UK and would it work? I don’t know the answers but these are important questions.”
There are groups that have visibly lower vaccination rates in government data. Young people are one, with a first dose rate of 69.2 per cent for people in their 30s compared to 95.5 per cent of over-80s.
Another includes people from non-white ethnic backgrounds. While 89.4 per cent of people from white British backgrounds have had a first dose, the figure is just 54 per cent among those from black African backgrounds. The lowest rate, of 50.1 per cent, appears to be among those from Chinese backgrounds.
Vaccination rates have historically been lower in ethnic minorities, with factors including a greater mistrust of medical services due to past mistreatment, less fluent English among recent immigrants that makes public information campaigns harder to digest, and overlap with other risk factors. For example, those living in more deprived areas are the most likely to say no to Covid jabs.
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Data drawn from GP records suggests a vaccination rate of 89.4 per cent in the least deprived fifth of the population, but only 71.6 per cent in the most deprived.
This week Chris Hopson, chief executive of NHS Providers, highlighted “women thinking of having children” as an NHS staff group with low uptake.
And hesitancy among pregnant women has led to a government campaign urging them to come forward and stressing the safety of the jabs.
Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, said: “We’ve seen lots of Covid vaccine-related confusion amongst pregnant women and those trying to conceive, with posts like this typical: ‘I’m pregnant and am scared to get the vaccine, I don’t know what the potential consequences for my baby are. I’ve not taken lots of medication because of the potential but unknown risk of harm during this time. Why is the vaccine different?’”
She said many pregnant women felt “uninformed, patronised and under pressure to make hugely important decisions about their own health and the health of their baby with very little information and data to help them”, adding: “The huge volume of concerns raised about women’s reproductive health as a result of Covid-19 and the Covid vaccine — particularly around periods, birth control and the menopause only highlight the information gap further. It’s hard not to conclude that women’s health hasn’t been sufficiently considered in clinical trials and in official guidance.”
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Sarah, 33, found out she was pregnant in late May, about the time that people of her age were being invited for their first dose of the vaccine. As the pregnancy progressed she tried to find out more about the vaccine but found that health professionals either did not have all the information or gave conflicting advice. “It was all very confusing, so my partner and I made the decision to just wait until after the baby was born for me to be vaccinated. He has been double jabbed and we had no plans to travel this year anyway. I’ve just been really careful, I think like lots of pregnant women are anyway.
“I don’t tell people I’ve not had it, I think there is quite a lot of stigma around it — people think you’re an anti-vaxxer. I am not. I will have it, just a bit later than my friends.”
Polling by the Office for National Statistics, released yesterday showed that not everyone who was double-jabbed would be willing to have a third dose. Only 92 per cent of adults who had received two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine would be very or fairly likely to take a booster vaccine if offered.
And only 50 per cent of adults with a child aged 12 to 15 in their household reported that the child would be very likely or fairly likely to have a coronavirus vaccine.
Dr Alex de Figueiredo, of the Vaccine Confidence Project, at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said: “I think in terms of persuading people, one question we should ask is whether we are now ‘pushing too hard’ and being counterproductive.”
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Martine Stead, deputy director of the Institute for Social Marketing and Health at Stirling University, led a survey of attitudes towards Covid-19 vaccination, published this week.
She said that while some “very sceptical” participants said they might reluctantly accept vaccination for pragmatic reasons, such as the ability to travel, “governments should be cautious about implementing measures such as vaccination passports, because others indicated that this might further push them away from getting a vaccination or booster”.
Instead, she suggested a “continually refreshed” message on the importance of vaccination, targeted engagement with particular groups, “using spokespeople they trust through media they use, addressing their specific concerns”.
Finally, she said: “We need to ensure that it carries on being easy for people to get the vaccination.”
