It's time to step up the fight against Covid misinformation.
Laura Marks OBE is an interfaith advisor and founder of Common Good.
It was a great milestone: the 20 millionth person got their Covid jab at the weekend. But it was overshadowed by further reporting of ethnic and minority groups refusing to get the jab.
Myths that the vaccine contains pork, changes your DNA, is satanical, kills you after a year, contains microchips or is being produced for Jews’ financial benefit are just some of the many, often ‘faith specific’ lies being spread that are driving already vulnerable groups away from the vaccine, and putting them even further at risk.
This is hugely problematic, and not just because many people from minority communities are so vital to front line industries and to keeping our country running. It is so worrying because – yet again – misinformation is deliberately being peddled as a means of further perpetuating inequality and dividing our society.
A new report from Hope not Hate and the Anti Muslim Hatred Working Group states “Four times as many Muslims (12%) as Christians (3%) from BAME groups say that the vaccine contains ingredients/elements that they have been told would be against their religion”. This is misinformation propagated by people with an agenda of driving division and fear.
What can be done?
It is very easy to criticise the faith communities for vaccine hesitation, but it is not helpful nor fair. The solution must be in building trust, and aggressively tackling the sources of misinformation – in whatever form they may be.
Social media in particular has proved to be fertile breeding ground for the conspiracy theorists. “Plandemic,” a slickly produced narration that went viral across social media, with over 8 million views, claimed a shadowy cabal of elites was using the virus and a potential vaccine to profit and gain power.
Whilst faith communities often live close together and share ideas and stories, the speed with which misinformation spreads on social media is on a whole different scale. Misinformation super spreaders are jumping from platform to platform, spreading their poison – and whilst the big tech companies have promised to crackdown, far too many are still able to plant their seeds of doubt and division with impunity. Greater investment and resources must be put into shutting these accounts down; freedom of speech surely cannot come at the cost of lives.
Crisis of trust
Another area for improvement concerns how information around the vaccine is delivered and filtered through, especially given there remains considerable distrust of central government amongst certain faith and minority groups.
Although government (both local and central) has put considerable resource into understanding the concerns of the minority and faith groups, the Hope Not Hate report found that, amongst Muslim BAME respondents, trust in local GPs, faith leaders and friends and family was much higher than in the Prime Minister or celebrities.
Communication and real engagement between central government and faith and community leaders at grassroots level is therefore absolutely vital in winning the war against ignorance and misinformation.
Thirdly, amongst faith groups specifically, there is precious little hard data regarding take up of the vaccine. Whilst the ethnicity of vaccine receivers is measured, their faith or religion, in England, is not. Gathering better data would enable better monitoring and understanding of who is rejecting the jab and to what extent along faith lines.
Choosing the messenger
A final – but potentially game changing suggestion – is to better mobilise women. Whilst traditionally men in white coats might wield the greatest levels of trust on medical issues, this is not always the case – particularly in faith communities where women are at the very heart of community and family.
In their new book “Messengers”, Stephen Martin and Joe Marks cite the efficacy of training local women to teach people about the dangers of unsafe sex in Zimbabwe – an approach that proved hugely effective.
There is no simple solution to tackling the Covid vaccination misinformation theories, and certain individuals will always be out to stir up mistrust and division. But with social media platforms, government and minority group leaders better communicating, co-ordinating and building trust together, previously sceptical minds can be won over, leading to many more lives being saved.
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