While people across England huddled indoors amid freezing temperatures and a national lockdown, nearly 300 elderly men and women lined up outside a health center in north east London to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
But the wide-brimmed hats and long black coats that protected them from the cold were more about religion than the weather. These ultra-Orthodox Jews are members of a community particularly hard hit by the virus, which has killed nearly 117,000 people in Britain.
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A rabbi is given a dose of the AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in central London
Photo: AP
Hoping to break down barriers that sometimes isolate the Orthodox from wider society, community leaders organized the Saturday night pop-up vaccination event that coincided with the end of Shabbat, the Jewish rest day. They believed that this was the best time to attract the believers because it would fit the schedules perfectly – and people would be more relaxed because no one was working.
“I want to see the grandkids and I haven’t seen them in months, so you know now is the ideal time to get it,” said Asatr Walmberg, 66, after rolled up his sleeve. “And hopefully we can see them soon.”
As Britain’s National Health Service rushes to reach its goal of giving a first dose of vaccine to more than 15 million people, including health workers and anyone over 75, by Monday, health workers are trying to reach those who have been missed. The need is especially great in Stamford Hill, the center of North London’s ultra-Orthodox community.
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Two men from Haredi Orthodox Jewish community attend event to encourage vaccine uptake
Photo: AP
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 experienced some of the highest infection rates in London. Many fell ill last March after the Jewish festival of Purim, a day of celebration and mirth.
Local leaders, determined not to have history repeated, raised 10,000 pounds ($ 13,840) and asked to be studied by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to find out why they were hit so hard.
An analysis of blood samples from 1,242 people showed an infection rate of 64% – one of the highest in the world. In contrast, the Office for National Statistics estimates that about 16% of the UK population has had COVID-19.
Assistant professor Michael Marks, one of the project’s researchers, said preliminary results suggest the ultra-Orthodox have seen many cases because public health officials didn’t fully understand the virus last spring and because their small community is so close-knit.
COVID-19 likely circulated much more widely than initially thought, leaving government reports of the virus below the real risk. This allowed the virus to spread quickly in the community.
“And then they had a big religious event, which they all attended, because back then the advice was to keep going, so I think that might explain the big revival in the beginning,” said Marks.
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an event to encourage the uptake of vaccines in the British Haredi Orthodox Jewish community in central London
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Community leaders now believe that one way to prevent a recurrence is to make sure that as many people as possible are vaccinated. So they took away excuses for not attending. Besides the timing, the message that was to come was also going through the community channels, so people heard about it. In light of sensitivities, it was staffed with both male and female vaccinators.
“It’s about making people feel comfortable, people who feel comfortable,” said Joel Friedman, director of public affairs at the Interlink Foundation, an umbrella group for Orthodox voluntary organizations.
Other faith leaders participated, such as the Mustafa Field of Faiths Forum for London, a Muslim. They hope a cross-religion model will help community organizations take the lead. It’s a model the UK government hopes to use across the country as the NHS tries to make sure the vaccination program doesn’t miss out on other hard-to-reach communities.
“Having them do this here is really a great lesson to see how we can replicate some of this,”
Jewish leaders also hope that the vaccine push will help dispel the misconception that ultra-Orthodox Jews are ignoring the danger posed by COVID-19.
Police raided an Orthodox wedding at a local school last month because 100 people were in attendance, in violation of lockdown rules prohibiting large gatherings. An investigation by the Jewish News suggested it was not an isolated event. Ugly headlines about the event were seen as targeting the entire community, rather than the rule breakers.
What happened was unacceptable. Hopefully such scenes will never occur again, ”said Friedman. “But there is a strong sense that we are being treated a little bit unfairly, and the whole community is being branded with the same brush, which is very unfair.”
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Rabbi Bieberfeld receives a dose of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine in central London
Photo: AP
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 his shot. He said Orthodox Jews have a duty “to take the vaccine as soon as possible to make sure” that they stay healthy and do not infect other people.
“As I quoted one of the Israeli rabbis who said, ‘This is a dick to the person using the vaccine, but a huge leap forward for all of us, for humanity,” he said.