Ignore vaxxer myths and get jab, Charedi leaders urge women

“It appears that none of these patients were vaccinated,” states the leaflet, distributed by Hackney Council and backed by local GPs.

The London borough has some of the lowest vaccine take-up rates in the UK, falling below half of residents in a number of wards with large Orthodox Jewish populations.

The myth of vaccine risk to pregnant women and their unborn child has been wholly debunked by experts.

A senior Jewish doctor and member of London’s Covid response team, Leonora Weil, writes for the JC this week: “We know there are higher risks to mother and baby of having Covid whilst pregnant.”

The warning came as Israel on Tuesday said it will become the first country in the world to roll out a fourth round of vaccinations.

A community leader in Stamford Hill said there were people who had swallowed anti-vaccination theories “hook, line and sinker and sadly, this is having a negative effect on people’s health”.

What he called “conspiracy rubbish” seemed to be “rather pervasive”.

The community leader, who asked not be named, added: “Many women are under the illusion that vaccination can affect fertility, pregnancy and birth. There are anti-vaxxers who are in overdrive.”

The Hackney leaflet offers assurances about the Covid-19 vaccine, at the same time as warning of “increased risk” from coronavirus for women in the third trimester of pregnancy and of anecdotal evidence of “poor neonatal outcomes for some babies as a result of Covid-19 infection”.

Laurence Blumberg, a GP whose Stamford Hill practice has a majority of Charedi patients, said that vaccination rates overall in Hackney were low but “particularly low” in the Charedi community.

“There are women in the reproductive phase that are in that group and people in that group who are not getting Covid vaccines are getting really ill.”

According to figures published on the council’s website, in most Hackney wards more than 60 per cent of those aged 12 and over have received at least their first vaccine dose.

However, in three wards with a large Jewish population – Cazenove, Stamford Hill West and Springfield – the rate was only 53 per cent, 52 per cent and 47 per cent respectively, although the data does not give a breakdown on ethnicity.

One explanation is that younger people are less likely to be vaccinated and younger people in the Charedi community, which has a youthful profile, may have yet to get their jab.

Joel Friedman, of the Interlink Foundation, a Charedi umbrella charity, said it was “difficult to pinpoint a specific group” within wards.

But he added: “As a community we are a taking a number of steps to encourage people of all ages to get vaccinated or have the booster. Leaders are working closely with Hackney Council and the North East London Clinical Commissioning Group to encourage uptake and Hatzola [the Jewish medical response service] are continuing to play a vital role in communicating the importance of the vaccine.”

The campaign targeted at pregnant women was “already proving successful,” he said.

He added: “There was a good uptake of the vaccine within the community earlier this year and we hope to see the same with the booster.”

Hackney Council’s spokesman said Orthodox communities had “very limited access to information online and are often unable to receive timely and accurate advice, guidance and support relating to coronavirus.

“Which is why we’re working closely with local Orthodox Jewish leaders and the community to ensure we’re getting the right messages through the right channels to provide information about the vaccine and drive uptake.”

On Sunday, Mayor Sadiq Khan declared a “major incident” in London owing to the rapid spread of omicron.

He told BBC1’s The Andrew Marr Show Jewish communities were among those where efforts were under way to encourage the unvaccinated to receive the jab.

The London School of Tropical Hgyiene and Medicine say up to 65 per cent of the UK Charedi community could have been infected last year.

Latest figures in Hackney show infection rates in Springfield and Stamford Hill West wards are a third to a quarter of the highest infection rates in the borough.