The two parishes of St Elizabeth's and St Osburg's are planning to hold a COVID-19 Vaccination panel discussion with experts and members from within our community, particularly the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) community. To help us plan the session, could we please ask you to take a minute or so to respond to our anonymised survey below - we send our heartfelt appreciation for your help with this.

Background:
COVID 19 pandemic has caused dramatic changes in our lives, yet we know that it does not affect people equally. Although most people with the infection might experience only mild illness, some may become very unwell and sadly others may die from it. We know that death rates from COVID -19 are higher for Black and Asian ethnic groups when compared to White ethnic groups. To put this into context, the death rates for COVID-19 in black people are 4 times that of Caucasians, and Asian people are 3 times more likely to die than their Caucasian counterparts.

With the cases of coronavirus surging, there is need for action to protect ourselves from contracting and spreading the virus. Vaccines are one of the most promising interventions to control infections. With mass covid-19 vaccination efforts under way in UK, we know that vaccine uptake is very low among the BAME communities compared to our Caucasian counterparts. We understand that some people may be concerned about getting vaccinated with the new COVID-19 vaccines. Tackling the reasons for hesitancy requires our understanding, trust and engagement. We are a group of Catholics belonging to the Zimbabwean Chaplaincy who have come together as professionals with the aim to share information around health and wellbeing in the context of COVID-19 and vaccines.