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The narrative on "BAME vaccine hesitancy" is flawed and based on weak data. Short thread on why I think we should reconsider our use of the phrase. 
Following anecdotal reports and a number of survey polls, there has been much reporting on the high rates of "BAME vaccine hesitancy", implying that the problem is more severe amongst non-White people than White people.
The survey data to support this claim, however, is weak.
The survey data to support this claim, however, is weak.
Most surveys have polled too few BAME people for there to be robust claims made. Some have polled just 29 Black people. Another had just 3 Bangladeshi participants. With sample sizes that small, it's hard to claim that BAME people have a particular problem with vaccine hesitancy.
Some surveys are better. The ITV / Number Cruncher survey in October 2020, surveyed 1,000 BAME people. This survey shows a small difference between White and non-White people. Both groups have similar proportions not wanting to take the vaccine (13% & 16%).
On vaccine uptake, the RCGPs claim that uptake is lower amongst BAME groups is hard to interrogate as there is no age breakdown. E.g. If the average age of BAME population is lower than White population, then you would expect fewer BAME people to be vaccinated in the first phase.
Even with better surveys, we're still left with the problem of using the term "BAME". It can be a useful term for researching the impact of structural racism upon racialised groups, but it shouldn't be used to claim shared mental or physical characteristics (e.g. intelligence).
The current narrative may lead to further stereotyping of non-White people, and, worst case scenario, blame. We may also miss other, more important, factors which may be contributing to vaccine hesitancy across the population.
This is not a criticism of efforts to increase vaccine uptake. Regardless of hesitancy rates, we should be encouraging uptake of the vaccine through all channels and communities.
Vaccine hesitancy is real and has lots of underlying causes, but it's frustrating to read about these generalisations which aren't supported by robust evidence and use problematic language and framing.
To overcome this, we need to collect real, more meaningful, data on vaccine hesitancy and form an opinion based on that.
