Crawley charity visits supermarkets to promote the Covid vaccine to African and Caribbean community members

Crawley Community Action trustees Marilyn Le Feuvre and Irma Stuart-Tei, engaged with the two communities by handing out NHS flyers at Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda.

ONS figures show that Black communities have the lowest rates of Covid vaccine uptake.

Members of the Black African and Black Caribbean communities have an uptake rate of 66.8 per cent and 71.2 per cent respectively.

The Pakistani and over-50s White communities have an uptake rate of 78.4 per cent and 93.7 per cent.

Toby Shaw, community groups and volunteering manager at Crawley Community Action, said: “The rollout of the Covid-19 vaccination programme has been going really well but there are still people who have not yet had their jabs.

“We have been working with the NHS to help encourage people to get vaccinated especially in communities and parts of the town where the take up is below average.

“We have been spreading information about the vaccine and finding out why some people may feel hesitant about it.

“When people hear the facts about the vaccine, how it can protect them, their families and their communities, they usually decide to get their jab.

“We are really proud to be responding to the pandemic by supporting the NHS to make sure that local people are kept safe and healthy.”

Marilyn and Irma kept a tally of the number of African and Caribbean community members they engaged with, as well as BAME community members.

Marilyn and Irma spoke to 89 members of the African and Caribbean community, and 157 from the BAME community.

Marilyn, who is also co-founder and chair of DIVERSECrawley, added: “Our experience was exhausting but exhilarating as most people were so receptive and appreciative of us engaging and promoting the Covid-19 vaccination.

“We would like to thank Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda for their support in this promotion.

“We plan to continue this promotion by engaging with FAITH leaders who have predominantly African and Caribbean congregations.”