A Tameside GP has said it is ‘shocking and disappointing’ that two trainee doctors have refused to have the Covid-19 vaccine.
The revelation came as Dr Asad Ali, who co-chairs the Tameside and Glossop clinical commissioning group, proposed the creation of a coronavirus vaccine hotline in the area to give advice to people with doubts about the jab.
Speaking at a meeting of the primary care committee on Wednesday afternoon, Dr Ali said this would also take pressure off GP switchboards and reception staff.
He explained they currently had ‘more and more people’ ringing up or getting in touch online ‘potentially clogging up capacity’ asking questions about the vaccine.
‘Fake news’ and misconceptions about the vaccine included worries about fertility, or that the virus would ‘turn men homosexual’.
“Obviously you should have it but a lot of people aren’t convinced and they want a conversation with a professional,” Dr Ali said.
“There are some crazy rumours out there and they are coming to us.
“Often we find that the very people who are most at risk choose for whatever reason not to have the vaccine.
“Two trainees, BAME origin like myself, two of these trainees, despite me telling them that the vaccine is absolutely important to have, they’ve actually chosen not to have the vaccine.
“Now that’s pretty shocking. And that’s very disappointing – and they’re doctors, so trying to win this argument with non-doctors is clearly going to be harder.
“So I just wondered if we could have some resource to tackle this difficult area.”
He said that the hotline could potentially have a ‘snowball’ effect whereby a person who was convinced to have the vaccine in a ten minute call would then inspire confidence in others.
“The message would get out there that the vaccine is genuinely safe,” Dr Ali said.
Dr Alan Dow, a GP at Cottage Lane Surgery in Glossop, added it was the ‘definition of a good idea’.
“I think it’s got legs,” he told the meeting.
“I’m sure all our practices are getting quite a few legitimate questions each day about ‘what should I do’ and they are coming through our phone lines.
“One minute we’re speaking to someone whose breathing’s got worse and the next we’re talking to someone who is asking a very legitimate knowledge based question about the vaccination and a central resource to do that with somebody who is clued up and well informed I think would be really useful.”
Angela Osei, head of primary care transformation in Greater Manchester told the meeting she did not believe a central regional approach to such a hotline would answer the ‘obscurities and the specifics of the questions’.
“A corporate message from GM would never answer in a million years some of the things I’ve heard, so I do think there is something about how localities find a way to really tap into those individuals,” she said.
Karen Huntley, who sits on the CCG governing body as a lay member, added: “Only by listening to people will we understand the barriers to vaccination and then we can do something to overcome these barriers.”
The committee agreed to investigate the possibility of using money from the Covid-19 communications budget for a project around answering vaccine queries.
