Bangladeshi High Commissioner: Have faith in the NHS and get the virus jab
Hampstead and Kilburn MP Tulip Siddiq also delivers safe vaccine message
Thursday, 4th February 2021 — By Harry Taylor
Saida Muna Tasneem
THE Bangladeshi high commissioner has urged members of Camden’s Bangladeshi community to get the Covid-19 jab.
Amid fears that they are not taking up the vaccine in high enough numbers, Saida Muna Tasneem told an online meeting organised by Camden Council on Monday: “I’ve reached out to my community, as much as I can, to tell them to stay at home, follow the lockdown rules, keep your elderly safe, keep them isolated – and now to take the vaccine.”
She added: “Have faith in your NHS, have faith in your GP and have faith in the vaccine. We haven’t heard of anyone having an adverse reaction from it. I urge my Bangladeshi brothers and sisters, your elderly people who qualify to have the vaccine, whenever they have a call from the NHS, take them for their vaccinations.”
The pandemic has had a disproportionately larger impact on BAME communities, according to a report by the Town Hall last year. During the meeting, calls were made for the Bangladeshi community to be given a higher priority for the jab, in light of the increased risk.
Tributes were also paid to British-Bangladeshi residents who have died in the pandemic. The meeting saw MPs, council leaders and NHS officials urge people to get the vaccine.
Joint chief nurse for NHS England, Martin Machray, said 105 Londoners had died from Covid on Tuesday.
He added: “That’s 105 families that have been devastated by this disease, that’s 105 communities who won’t have their loved ones in their midst tomorrow. If therefore I sound overly pushy about taking the vaccine, that’s not because I’m trying to tell you what to do, but it’s because as a nurse I don’t want more people to die.
“As a father and a son, I don’t want people I love around me dying. In my 35 years as a nurse, I have not been through anything like this. I’ve been through awful winters, great pressures, but nothing like this in the last year. The impact on communities like the Bangladeshi diaspora has been more significant than the wider community.”
Hampstead and Kilburn Labour MP Tulip Siddiq told the meeting: “We can’t allow this inequality to increase by not taking the vaccine. What I will say to you is that the vaccine is safe, it is effective, it has been developed by world-class experts and it is the best protection against getting Covid-19.”
