Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle vaccine disinformation among Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to ensure take-up of the covid-19 vaccine.

The Department understands the danger of vaccine disinformation and is working closely with Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement and other departments to ensure that everyone has access to the accurate information they need when getting vaccinated.

As part of this campaign to tackle misinformation the Department has reached out to black, Asian and minority ethic (BAME) communities to ensure transparency and has brought community leaders and trusted voices on board to support departmental efforts.

Externally, the Department of Health and Social Care is also working with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to help social media platforms identify and take action on incorrect claims on the virus, including anti-vaccination narratives that could endanger people’s health. Further to this there are also BAME-targeted TV, radio and newsprint partnerships aimed at providing clear and accurate messaging about the COVID-19 vaccine programme which is being translated into 13 languages.