'Call out anti-vaccination myths' says Birmingham City Council leader
People should be calling out the myths around anti-vaccination, the leader of Birmingham City Council has said, as the country gets ready to roll out the Covid-19 vaccine.
Both Councillor Ian Ward and Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson have urged the public to get vaccinated, warning that it would be impossible to ‘return to normal’ without several people signing up.
Last week it was announced that the UK had become the first country to approve a Covid-19 vaccine, with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine expected to be rolled out to the most vulnerable by as early as the next few days.
And, while Councillor Ward confirmed that the council were working with the NHS to get the vaccine rolled out, he also urged people to challenge any ‘anti-vaxxers’.
“On the vaccine, the council is working to support the NHS in preparing for delivery of mass vaccination,” he said.
“And I have a request for everyone – that we call out the dangerous anti-vaccination myths, in order to reassure the public ahead of the vaccination roll out.
“Vaccinations work. The smallpox vaccination has already saved more lives than the total lost in the Second World War. And we know that some of these illnesses kill, and they can also have debilitating effects on people’s lives.
“If we’re going to conquer this virus and if we’re going to return to more normal lives we need people to come forward and take the vaccination.
“That is the route out of this crisis, and I would encourage everyone, when their turn comes in the queue, as it were.”
Responding to Councillor Ward’s comments, PCC David Jamieson added: “I shall be seeking a vaccine myself when others of greater priority have been dealt with first, and I would encourage anybody to do so.
“I was one of the people in the post-war years, and I do remember the most terrible diseases. Like polio, infantile paralysis it was called at the time, and seeing some of my classmates with huge irons clamped on their legs after they’d suffered from it, or some that died.
“For those that are saying ‘we shouldn’t vaccinate’, I would say to them that there are those of us who can remember when the vaccines weren’t so prevalent and around, and saw the dreadful effects of those diseases, some of those diseases which now have disappeared.
“And some of those anti-vaxxers haven’t lived through the period of time when those childhood diseases were very prevalent, and were life-threatening killers to young children."
