London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Oct 06, 2025

‘We don’t want to tell people they are wrong’: the battle to win over Britain’s unvaccinated

‘We don’t want to tell people they are wrong’: the battle to win over Britain’s unvaccinated

Local organisations are playing a crucial role in tackling concerns over the Covid jab

For two months, one of the women attending Anab Hoffmann’s weekly drop-in sessions was very vocal in her opposition to vaccines of all kinds.

“She was one of the loudest,” Hoffmann said. “There’s always one. She was very loud. But we didn’t mind. That was her view. We don’t want to tell people they are wrong. We just want to give them the evidence.”

Hoffmann is the founder of Heal Together, a community interest company that focuses on helping London’s Somali community understand and access mental health support. They run a “Shaah and Sheeko” [tea and chat] group on Thursdays at various places in east London where people can talk about anything they are concerned about. Hoffman and her colleagues show people how to get help.

Since July, they have also been talking about vaccines – one of hundreds of “community champions” who are trying to persuade people to get the jab. People like the vocal anti-vaxxer at the Shaah and Sheeko.

“Week in, week out, she was very reluctant, but we saw her soften her tone.” They showed her videos of Somali doctors talking about vaccines, and information about the different vaccines and what they do.“We’re a small community,” said Hoffmann, who gave up her job in human resources for a major bank to start up Heal Together. “But we have unexplained levels of autism and some people believe the MMR vaccinations are responsible, which is untrue. But it has been a problem.

“Then a few weeks ago, we were doing outreach work outside a mosque and we saw her. She hugged all of us. I was perplexed, to say the least, because she had been so against it. But she said she had got the vaccine, and her sisters too.”

Even though everyone over 18 has been eligible for a free vaccine for at least six months, more than 60,000 adults received their first dose in the week up to 5 December, according to NHS figures.

In the London borough of Newham, where Heal Together is based, more than 220,000 first doses have been given out to over-18s, but there are between 268,000 and 350,000 adults in the area. The local authority has been funding 15 community groups including Heal Together and about 8,000 people have been vaccinated at pop-up clinics, like one Hoffmann ran in Stratford in June.

Jason Strelitz, director of public health in Newham, said there had been an increase in unvaccinated people coming forward since the emergence of the new, more infectious the Omicron variant. “We’ve been working a lot with very small community and voluntary organisations who have deep roots into different communities,” he said. “Breaking down trust barriers is important.”

A woman receives her vaccination at a Heal Together centre.


Around 10% of people in their 40s are yet to have any vaccine against Covid-19, according to NHS figures, which leaves them vulnerable to serious illness if they become infected. More than a quarter of men aged between 18 and 24 are unvaccinated, nearly six months after they were first offered.

Since the government’s strategy of avoiding Covid restrictions relies on a herd immunity approach, these unvaccinated people represent a significant problem. When Boris Johnson announced plan B measures last week, he hinted that mandatory vaccinations might be an option, saying a “national conversation” was needed. Vaccines are already mandatory for care home workers – although a grace period has been extended into next year – and frontline NHS workers will be obliged to be double jabbed by April.

But the prospect of mandatory vaccines was “worrying”, according to Dr Pauline Paterson, co-director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM).

“We might need boosters every six months,” she said. “How many doses will be mandatory?” LSHTM researchers conducted a study of 17,000 people in April and discovered that although people who had been vaccinated liked the idea of vaccine passports, those who were already hesitant became more reluctant.

But confidence, or a lack of trust in the vaccines, or authorities, is only one reason why some people are unvaccinated, Paterson said. They may be complacent – particularly young people who believe they are not vulnerable to Covid, or there may be a lack of access.

“Maybe some people tried to log into the system and it wasn’t working. Or they didn’t know their NHS number, or the centre is too far away,” Paterson said. “Usually, by the time you have systems in place to make vaccines mandatory, you don’t need to, because generally the problem is about access.

“There’s an assumption we need to educate people, or tell them off, but actually we need to find out why people haven’t had a vaccine. The key is not to stigmatise and not to assume.”

Access remains a problem for some, including immune-suppressed people who need a third primary dose of the vaccine but say there is no way to book a vaccine appointment. They also face resistance from volunteers who do not always understand that they are eligible for a jab.

Even 15% of over-80s eligible for a booster dose have not yet had it, nearly three months after being invited. Changes to the way vaccines are now delivered may mean it is harder for some to access, according to Ruthe Isden, Age UK’s head of influence.

“In January, people were furloughed so they were more able to drop everything and take relatives to vaccine centres. In older age groups, people do face practical barriers. And for housebound people we do need wraparound support.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×