Marguerite Clarke, a principal officer for public health intelligence, told a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Advisory Cell there was a lack of data ‘around the ethnicity of those accepting and refusing the vaccine presently, and that this had been the case for quite some time’.
The cell, which advises the government on pandemic policy, found this a challenging issue during the first and second waves of the pandemic, according to the 5 July minutes.
Director of public health practice Peter Bradley raised the issue of the ‘work required to recognise which members of the population were being affected by serious disease arising from Covid-19 or Long Covid’.
Potential reasons for increased vulnerability were considered by STAC, including those who might be showing signs of vaccine hesitancy and clinical vulnerability, according to the minutes.
Senior policy officer Dr Clare Newman noted that this level of data was ‘difficult to obtain in Jersey’ but that they were working to identify ‘populations of concern’.
The government said in May it had ‘no concerns’ about vaccine uptake ‘within any priority group’, despite not collecting data on ethnicity and a survey showing higher vaccine hesitancy among the Island’s Portuguese community.
STAC minutes released at the time highlighted information which indicated that the Island’s Portuguese and Madeiran citizens were ‘more hesitant’ to receive a Covid vaccine.
A vaccine perceptions survey was discussed at one meeting on 22 February, which ‘appeared to be representative across the parishes, gender, income and qualifications’ spectrum, according to the minutes. However, it noted ‘participation by Islanders of Portuguese and Madeiran descent has been relatively low’.
Portuguese and Madeiran respondents were ‘also more hesitant’ to have the vaccine, according to the survey results, with no significant differences noted in Polish, Romanian or other European groups. At the July meeting, deputy medical officer of health Dr Ivan Muscat highlighted the fact that 83% of those Islanders experiencing symptoms were not fully protected, expressing concern over ‘how some members of the population were of the view that they did not need to be fully vaccinated’.
