On Tuesday 30th November, Dr Włodzimierz Meir Jędrzejowicz, President of the London-based Federation of Poles in Great Britain, has written to Mr Sajid Javid, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, expressing his concern at statistical and anecdotal evidence of covid vaccination hesitancy in the Polish community, especially amongst the younger generation. A survey indicated, for instance, that 18% of UK Poles would refuse to be vaccinated and a further 17% did not know if they would. These figures are much higher than for the average population in the United Kingdom. Renewed concerns over the new Omicron variant in the UK could only increase anxiety over this matter.
The Polish ethnic minority in the UK forms more than 1.5% of the UK population and should therefore be considered statistically significant in itself. However, Dr Meir Jędrzejowicz remains concerned that this evidence of hesitancy in the Polish community may remain undetected because its presence is hidden in a much larger statistical group described as “white other”, where the overall level of uptake is reasonably high. He asks Mr Javid whether his Department could take special measures to record the vaccine uptake specifically in the Polish community in the United Kingdom, so that resources can be found to conduct a dedicated information campaign, in the Polish language, aimed at encouraging the Polish ethnic minority in the UK to be vaccinated.
The Federation of Poles in Great Britain CIO is an umbrella organization for Polish organizations in Great Britain and has served as the voice of the Polish community in this country since 1946.
For any further information please contact Wiktor Moszczynski, Federation spokesman – tel 07786471833 or email wikmos@gmail.com