Day: November 30, 2020

NHS bosses are planning to enlist “sensible” celebrities and social media influencers for a campaign to persuade the public to get vaccinated against Covid-19, according to insiders.

An NHS England source told The Guardian that the health service wants “people who are known and loved” such as footballer Marcus Rashford [pictured top], and who “have done sensible stuff during the pandemic”, to promote the jabs. The planned push comes amid growing fears that the spread of anti-vax theories online could jeopardise an effective rollout.

Why are health leaders concerned?

Hopes are growing that “the first of three potentially promising vaccines – Pfizer/BioNTech, of which the UK has secured 40 million doses – is set for regulatory approval within days”, says The Guardian. The government has also secured 100 million doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, and has increased the nation’s order for the Moderna jab to seven million doses.

But health chiefs are increasingly “worried about the number of people who are still undecided” about whether to get innoculated, and “about vaccine scepticism among NHS staff”, the newspaper reports.

“Some experts estimate a Covid-19 vaccine will need to be accepted by at least 55% of the population to provide herd immunity”, says the i news site. “Others suggest even higher numbers will be needed, such as 65% to 70%.”

However, a recent survey of 4,000 people by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine found that just 54% would “definitely” accept a vaccine. And “after being shown online misinformation, that number dropped by 6.4%”, according to a report on the university’s website.

What is the NHS planning?

Health service insiders say that celebrities and social media influencers will be enlisted to help combat misinformation about any Covid vaccine that is rolled out in the UK.

The Daily Mail reports that health bosses and government ministers are in talks with “responsible” high-profile stars to post positive messages about the jab.

“No celebrities have been confirmed but officials suggest Marcus Rashford, the England footballer campaigning to end child hunger, and members of the Royal Family would be ideal,” says the paper.

A source “with knowledge of the plans” told The Guardian that the high-profile figures who sign up will lead “a big national campaign” to drive take-up.

Politicians are not expected to join the line-up of trusted faces, however.

Instead, the celebs are likely to appear alongside “doctors who often appear on television and radio discussing health issues”, because of their “profile and the trust they are assumed to already have with the public”, the paper continues.

“Religious and community leaders are also being consulted in order to allay possible fears over the vaccine among black, Asian and ethnic minorities,” says the Daily Mail.

“Covid-19 vaccines will be crucial to helping to end this pandemic and returning our lives to near normal,” said Professor Heidi Larson of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who led the recent survey on vaccine uptake.

“However, vaccines only work if people take them.”

As the UK looks forward to a loosening of Covid-19 restrictions over Christmas, fears are growing in the US that last week’s Thanksgiving break might have been a “superspreader event”.

Infections were already rising sharply in many parts of the country before the four-day holiday, for which many Americans return home to spend time with their families.

“More people passed through airport security on Sunday than on any other single day since the coronavirus pandemic cratered air travel,” CNN reports. Nearly ten million people travelled by plane, and many more made the journey by car.

The result is likely to be “a superspreader event on top of a Covid-19 surge” that began earlier this month, says CBS News. According to figures from Johns Hopkins University, the US has recorded more than 100,000 new cases every day since 4 November.

While it is too early to measure the effect of family get-togethers on infections and deaths, Canada may provide a glimpse of the future. Having celebrated its own version of the festival six weeks ago, says The Telegraph, the neighbouring nation is “reckoning with a post-Thanksgiving surge in coronavirus cases that should act as a cautionary tale”.

The number of infections is still small by US standards, but the spread of the virus seems to be greatest in areas where the most people came together to celebrate.

“Cases have risen sevenfold in British Columbia since Thanksgiving, while French-speaking Quebec, where the annual festivities are less popular, has seen a far smaller spike,” the newspaper reports.

By contrast to both Canada and the US, Covid-19 appears to be in gradual retreat in the UK, raising hopes that restrictions can be lifted over Christmas.

But the University of Exeter’s Dr Bharat Pankhania warned today that family Christmas dinners are bound to result in additional infections.

“If we are gathering over the Christmas period, as the green light has been given for this to happen, people will start to gather before and after as well,” he told Good Morning Britain. “Then, once you have a surge in the number of cases late January to early February, we will not by that time have fully deployed the vaccines, therefore case numbers are expected to rise.”