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LONDON (AP) – As people across England huddled indoors amid freezing temperatures and a nationwide lockdown, nearly 300 elderly men and women lined up outside a northern health center east of London to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But the wide-brimmed hats and long black coats that protected them from the cold were more about religion than time. These ultra-Orthodox Jews are members of a community particularly affected by the virus, which has killed nearly 117,000 people in Britain.
Hoping to break down the barriers that sometimes isolate Orthodox from wider society, community leaders organized the pop-up vaccination event on Saturday night to coincide with the end of Shabbat, the Jewish day of rest. They thought this was the best time to attract the faithful as it would fit perfectly into after-service schedules – and people would be more relaxed since no one was working.
“I want to see the grandchildren and haven’t seen them in months so you know now is the perfect time to get it,” said Asher Warmberg, 66, after rolling up her sleeve. “And I hope we can see them soon.”
While Britain’s National Health Service has reached its goal of giving a first dose of the vaccine to more than 15 million people, including healthcare workers and everyone over 75, authorities are trying to reach those that were missed during the national campaign. The need is particularly great in Stamford Hill, the center of the ultra-Orthodox community in north London.
As many ultra-Orthodox shun social media and the internet, people here have been slow to realize the dangers of COVID-19, and their community has seen some of London’s highest infection rates. Many fell ill last March after the Jewish holiday of Purim, a day of celebration and joy.
Local leaders, determined not to let history repeat itself, raised 10,000 pounds ($ 13,840) and asked to be investigated by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to find out why they were being hit so hard.
Analysis of blood samples from 1,242 people revealed an infection rate of 64% – one of the highest recorded in the world. In contrast, the Office for National Statistics estimates that around 16% of the English population has had COVID-19.
Assistant Professor Michael Marks, one of the researchers on the project, said preliminary results suggest ultra-Orthodox have seen a lot of cases because public health officials did not fully understand the virus last spring. and because their small community is so tight-knit.
COVID-19 was probably circulating much more widely than initially thought, which meant that government messages about the virus were lagging behind the real risk. This allowed the virus to quickly spread throughout the community.
“And then they had a big religious event, which they all attended, because at the time the advice was to go on, so I think that might explain the big hike at the start,” Marks said.
Community leaders now believe that one way to prevent a recurrence is to ensure that as many people as possible get vaccinated. So they eliminated the excuses for not attending. Besides the timing, the upcoming message went through community channels, so people heard about it. Given the sensitivities, it was made up of male and female vaccinators.
“It’s just about feeling comfortable, about feeling comfortable,” said Joel Friedman, director of public affairs for the Interlink Foundation, an umbrella group for Orthodox volunteer organizations.
Other religious leaders took part, such as Mustafa Field of Faiths Forum for London, a Muslim. They hope that an interfaith model will help community organizations take the lead in the future. It’s a model the UK government hopes to use across the country as the NHS tries to ensure the vaccination campaign doesn’t miss other hard-to-reach communities.
“Having them do that here is really a great lesson to see how we can replicate some of that,” said Vaccination Minister Nadhim Zahawi, who attended the event. “So we will take this as a great model of faith groups working with local government and of course the NHS.”
Jewish leaders also hope that the vaccination campaign will help dispel the misconception that ultra-Orthodox Jews ignore the danger posed by COVID-19.
Police raided an Orthodox wedding at a local school last month because there were 100 people in violation of lockdown rules banning large gatherings. A Jewish News investigation suggested this was not an isolated event. The headlines about the event were seen as tarnishing the entire community, rather than rule breakers.
“What happened was unacceptable. Hopefully such scenes will never happen again, ”Friedman said. “But there is a strong feeling that we are being treated a bit unfairly, and the whole community is branded with the same brush, which is very unfair.”
The vaccine is a “big step forward” for the Orthodox community and British society as a whole, Rabbi Michael Biberfeld said as he sat down to get the vaccine. He said Orthodox Jews have an obligation to “take the vaccine as soon as possible to ensure” that they stay healthy and do not infect others.
“As I quoted from one of the Israeli rabbis who said:” This is an injection for the person taking the vaccine, but a huge leap forward for all of us, for humanity, “he said. he says.
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This story corrected the name of a person receiving a dose of vaccine from Asher Warmberg.
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Follow all of the PA’s pandemic coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic, https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-vaccine and https://apnews.com/UnderstandingtheOutbreak
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