A BLACK Labour activist has shared her pride in her mother for getting her jab as she calls on leaders to avoid racial inequality in vaccine uptake.

Grace Quansah said her mother Esther Ackah, 83, received her vaccine at Ealing Town Hall after overcoming her fears about the jab for weeks.

The former midwife asked for time to think about having the vaccine when she was offered it by her GP surgery a few weeks ago, because she wanted to be sure she wouldn't develop a reaction, which had happened when she had the flu vaccine previously.

The book author also wanted to wait to see if there were reports of any serious side effects in the early rounds.

Grace said: "I'm proud of my mother, who recently overcame her fears to have the vaccine.

"After a few weeks, informed by some conversations she had with friends and extended family members who have taken the vaccine, she felt reassured that it was safe.

"I too, had a sensitive conversation with my mother, against the backdrop of growing concerns and official statistics about the new UK variant.

"My mum lives close by and she's in my family bubble, but since the onset of the new variant she's been more wary and isolated at home.

"This also contributed to her decision."

Grace, who is equality officer for Ealing Labour, believes there needs to be a stronger public campaign to visually locate ethnic minority groups who need to be prioritised for the vaccine.

She said: "I call upon community leaders, educators and policy makers to help promote a culturally sensitive public campaign that will help to avert a double jeopardy: racial inequality in deaths from COVID-19 and potential racial inequality in vaccine uptake."

Ealing Council leader Julian Bell told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that verbal updates he has received show a 15% refusal rate of the vaccine from African-Caribbean residents so far, which is 'substantially higher' than the general population rate which is around 5%.

He said: "As a council we're trying to work with trusted community leaders to have them give messages to the various communities to get people to feel comfortable.

"We are all trying to work together to get those messages of reassurance and information."

In a message to residents he said to arm themselves with facts from trusted sources rather than from WhatsApp or social media where there is an 'awful lot' of misinformation.

This comes as an Ealing Hospital doctor said more work needs to be done in order to encourage BAME residents to get the vaccine.

Grace also highlighted concerns such as DNA manipulation and suitability for vegetarians and vegans, that have been flagged due to social media.

Concerns of whether the virus will adversely affect someone with underlying health conditions, as well as cultural mistrust due to medicine's history of racism, she added, were just 'some of the reasons' for vaccine skepticisms among Black African, Caribbean and Asian groups.

Black activist Eric Huntley, who co-founded the Bogle L'Ouverture publications in Ealing in 1969, is also backing the campaign and urging for more publicity in multiple languages.

He said: "I welcome Grace's initiative, however, there is an absence or very little promotion of the value of the vaccine in the mother tongue targeting our diverse communities.

"After all we are described as 'ethnic communities' and therefore deserve some special treatment.

"I have been vaccinated with both jabs and whole-heartily recommend the same to one and all."