As has been a trademark with this virus, Covid-19 has thrown this country yet another new challenge, mutating once again. This new Omicron variant has been described by scientists as one of the most heavily mutated variants seen throughout the duration of the Covid-19 pandemic. With regards to the infectivity receptors, the dominant Delta variant had just two mutations from the original virus found in Wuhan, whereas the Omicron variant has 10 mutations, and 50 mutations overall. Fears that this new variant may be able to partially escape vaccines and immune responses are growing, however scientific consensus is clear – booster jabs will make or break our country’s response. It is therefore important, now more than ever, that we tackle vaccine hesitancy amongst the BAME community.
Earlier this week, the United Kingdom’s deputy-chief medical officer, Jonathan Van-Tam, used a football analogy to explain that the Omicron variant may take out some “key players” in our immune systems and that while that is okay for now, we cannot risk going down to 10 players. He asserted that by taking up our booster jabs, we can make sure our strongest players are in the field. Scottish Conservative MSP, Murdo Fraser agreed and argued in the Scotsman earlier this week that “if we are serious about tackling Covid, the focus must be on the roll out of the booster programme as quickly as possible, and continued encouragement to unvaccinated groups… in BAME communities to get the jab. That is the way we ensure protection for society”.
Murdo Fraser’s comments regarding the importance of encouraging vaccine uptake amongst the BAME community hits the nail on the head. Data from the British Medical Journal states that 72% of individuals from Black communities stated they were unlikely to take up the covid-19 vaccine, along with 42% of those from Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds. This is an extremely worrying trend as it has already been made clear that those from Black Asian and Minority ethnic backgrounds are significantly more likely to fall seriously ill from covid-19. With a new variant having arrived in the United Kingdom, we need to ensure all communities have the best protection they can get.
The Omicron variant is the latest in a long line of challenges this pandemic has thrown at our country, and like the rest, we will face it head on. However, to ensure we have the best defences possible against this variant, we must ensure that all of our communities are vaccinated and protected. Nicola Sturgeon and the Scottish Government should be putting all of their efforts into this booster jab campaign and ensuring that this country and our health service is prepared for the upcoming Omicron wave. Yet instead, at their conference, Nicola Sturgeon, John Swinney, Humza Yousaf and Ian Blackford thought it better to attack the Conservatives, threaten our Union, ignore the National Health Service crisis, and announce a showman’s no confidence motion against the Prime Minister. If we are to defeat this virus, we need a government that takes action fast and tackles problems at the root, rather than taking cheap, inappropriate and untimely political shots.