A disproportionately large number of Polish people are reluctant to take the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a CityNews investigation. People who are actively involved in the Polish community are raising concerns about this reluctancy, as well as medical and social media experts.
In an exclusive interview with City News, the leader of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain Wiktor Moszczynski said: “It’s a very significant problem in our community. And one which the government really ought to do something about.”
There is currently no data on vaccine hesitancy in the UK’s Polish community, because when people visit vaccination centres, they are not required to provide information about their nationality.
Mr Moszczynski says this is likely to be a reason why the government has not yet addressed the crisis: “There’s no data indicating the scale of the problem, so no one has good reason to tackle it.”
What is the data so far?
Consequently data on vaccine hesitancy from most European countries shows a large proportion of the Polish population are reluctant to have the jab. A study by Nature Magazine from October 2020 revealed just 56% of Polish people said they would take the vaccine if it was proved safe and effective. Compared to 74% of people living in Spain and 71% of people living in the UK.
Joanna Bagniewska, a spokeswoman for the Oxford Vaccine Group, says she is aware large numbers of Polish people are reluctant to take the vaccine. Back in February, she was asked by the Headmaster of her old Secondary School in Gdansk to reassure teachers about the Astra Zeneca jab’s efficacy.
“It was a very bizarre blast-from-the-past experience.” she said. “I found myself on a Zoom call with about 60 teachers, and had to convince every one of them that the vaccine is safe.”
“I think there must be something unique to the Polish collective experience which has triggered feelings of vaccine hesitancy,” she added.
Distrust of authority and mainstream media
The City Investigates team spoke to Polish people across the country. During which they asked about where feelings of vaccine hesitancy have come from. Many believe it stems from a distrust of authority, shaped by decades of invasions and government maltreatment.
Olenka Hamilton, a Polish journalist at The Catholic Herald, explained her reasoning for this. She said “Since the 18th century, Poland has been occupied by various countries, firstly by Russia, then by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then by Germany. After a brief period of respite, the Soviets came and turned Poland into a Communist republic.”
“This period, which lasted 200 years, created a sense of insecurity among Polish people. They developed a very combative nature, having to always fight against authority and people who aren’t necessarily good.”
Wiktor Moszczynski says misinformation and censorship for which the Soviet government was responsible also caused Poles to distrust authority and mainstream media. “There was a book considered the Index Black Book which described all things that shouldn’t appear in the press. Such as anything critical of the Soviet Union, or that ridiculed the government.”
“People were aware that anything that might possibly alarm them wouldn’t appear. So, they became distrustful of the press. That distrust is now built into the Polish DNA. People don’t believe anything they’ve been told publicly, because there’s always the possibility of a different version.”
Ania Cockerham, who grew up in Soviet-occupied Poland in the 1950s and 1960s, agrees. “We became really distrustful of the state, and of everything we read and watched,” she said, adding: “We were already lied to once, who’s to say it won’t happen again.”
Tackling the crisis
Evidence shows vaccine hesitancy has been an issue in the UK’s Polish community for some time. Four years ago, the Vaccine Confidence Project found that just 25% of Polish children in Scotland had been vaccinated against the flu. That’s compared to 71% of UK-born children.
According to Professor Helen Bedford, who produces research on vaccine uptake, this shows vaccine hesitancy among Poles is an issue which urgently needs addressing. “Unless things improve, new variants will develop in these communities. If a new virus emerges, we will have the same problem all over again.”
The size of the UK’s Polish community also underlines the need to address the problem. The latest ONS data shows there are around 815,000 Polish nationals living in the UK. The region with the largest population is London, with the East, East Midlands, North West and South East also having sizeable communities.
Wiktor Moszczynski says there are several ways the government can tackle the crisis. He said “We know there are government leaflets in Polish. But they need to be more accessible. We also need funding to do webinars on a larger scale.”
Social Media’s role
Ewa Ferdynus, a content creator who recently moved from Poland to the UK, says social media platforms have a responsibility. That they need to confront the problem. “A lot of misinformation is being shared on WhatsApp and Facebook. It needs to be taken down. Because it is brainwashing people. Especially people who trust small outlets more than mainstream media organisations.”
“They need Polish-speaking moderators who can sift through and remove all this fake news,” she adds.
Joanna Bagniewska says before anything else, data must be collected to provide concrete evidence of the problem. “It would be very easy to do. They would just need to run a survey in Polish. Asking if people have had the vaccine, or are worried about having it.”
“Without data like that, we aren’t going to get very far I’m afraid.”
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Standfirst
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HeadlineCity Investigates: Vaccine Hesitancy in the UK’s Polish Community
Short HeadlineVaccine Hesitancy in the UK’s Polish Community
StandfirstA distrust of authority and mainstream media outlets is believed to underpin the crisis.
A disproportionately large number of Polish people are reluctant to take the Covid-19 vaccine, according to a CityNews investigation. People who are actively involved in the Polish community are raising concerns about this reluctancy, as well as medical and social media experts.
In an exclusive interview with City News, the leader of the Federation of Poles in Great Britain Wiktor Moszczynski said: “It’s a very significant problem in our community. And one which the government really ought to do something about.”
There is currently no data on vaccine hesitancy in the UK’s Polish community, because when people visit vaccination centres, they are not required to provide information about their nationality.
Mr Moszczynski says this is likely to be a reason why the government has not yet addressed the crisis: “There’s no data indicating the scale of the problem, so no one has good reason to tackle it.”
What is the data so far?
Consequently data on vaccine hesitancy from most European countries shows a large proportion of the Polish population are reluctant to have the jab. A study by Nature Magazine from October 2020 revealed just 56% of Polish people said they would take the vaccine if it was proved safe and effective. Compared to 74% of people living in Spain and 71% of people living in the UK.
Joanna Bagniewska, a spokeswoman for the Oxford Vaccine Group, says she is aware large numbers of Polish people are reluctant to take the vaccine. Back in February, she was asked by the Headmaster of her old Secondary School in Gdansk to reassure teachers about the Astra Zeneca jab’s efficacy.
“It was a very bizarre blast-from-the-past experience.” she said. “I found myself on a Zoom call with about 60 teachers, and had to convince every one of them that the vaccine is safe.”
“I think there must be something unique to the Polish collective experience which has triggered feelings of vaccine hesitancy,” she added.
Distrust of authority and mainstream media
The City Investigates team spoke to Polish people across the country. During which they asked about where feelings of vaccine hesitancy have come from. Many believe it stems from a distrust of authority, shaped by decades of invasions and government maltreatment.
Olenka Hamilton, a Polish journalist at The Catholic Herald, explained her reasoning for this. She said “Since the 18th century, Poland has been occupied by various countries, firstly by Russia, then by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then by Germany. After a brief period of respite, the Soviets came and turned Poland into a Communist republic.”
“This period, which lasted 200 years, created a sense of insecurity among Polish people. They developed a very combative nature, having to always fight against authority and people who aren’t necessarily good.”
Wiktor Moszczynski says misinformation and censorship for which the Soviet government was responsible also caused Poles to distrust authority and mainstream media. “There was a book considered the Index Black Book which described all things that shouldn’t appear in the press. Such as anything critical of the Soviet Union, or that ridiculed the government.”
“People were aware that anything that might possibly alarm them wouldn’t appear. So, they became distrustful of the press. That distrust is now built into the Polish DNA. People don’t believe anything they’ve been told publicly, because there’s always the possibility of a different version.”
Ania Cockerham, who grew up in Soviet-occupied Poland in the 1950s and 1960s, agrees. “We became really distrustful of the state, and of everything we read and watched,” she said, adding: “We were already lied to once, who’s to say it won’t happen again.”
Tackling the crisis
Evidence shows vaccine hesitancy has been an issue in the UK’s Polish community for some time. Four years ago, the Vaccine Confidence Project found that just 25% of Polish children in Scotland had been vaccinated against the flu. That’s compared to 71% of UK-born children.
According to Professor Helen Bedford, who produces research on vaccine uptake, this shows vaccine hesitancy among Poles is an issue which urgently needs addressing. “Unless things improve, new variants will develop in these communities. If a new virus emerges, we will have the same problem all over again.”
The size of the UK’s Polish community also underlines the need to address the problem. The latest ONS data shows there are around 815,000 Polish nationals living in the UK. The region with the largest population is London, with the East, East Midlands, North West and South East also having sizeable communities.
Wiktor Moszczynski says there are several ways the government can tackle the crisis. He said “We know there are government leaflets in Polish. But they need to be more accessible. We also need funding to do webinars on a larger scale.”
Social Media’s role
Ewa Ferdynus, a content creator who recently moved from Poland to the UK, says social media platforms have a responsibility. That they need to confront the problem. “A lot of misinformation is being shared on WhatsApp and Facebook. It needs to be taken down. Because it is brainwashing people. Especially people who trust small outlets more than mainstream media organisations.”
“They need Polish-speaking moderators who can sift through and remove all this fake news,” she adds.
Joanna Bagniewska says before anything else, data must be collected to provide concrete evidence of the problem. “It would be very easy to do. They would just need to run a survey in Polish. Asking if people have had the vaccine, or are worried about having it.”
“Without data like that, we aren’t going to get very far I’m afraid.”
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