THE RACE and ethnicity of those that receive the COVID-19 vaccine should be recorded to beat stigma, according to some.

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) reports that the IT system used by GPs and mass vaccination centres does not currently record this data.

However, the NHS would be able to ascertain the ethnicities of those that take the vaccine by following up with existing GP records, through the national immunisation management service and through other potential sources of healthcare data.

Jabeer Butt, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, believes that these resources for data collection would still provide limited insight.

Butt stressed the need for accurate data to ensure facts around vaccine use among different groups.

He also said the data could lead to “misconceptions” and stigma for certain ethnic groups about the different uptakes of the jab, when it may be due to the lower numbers of Black and Asian people in the oldest age groups, who are the first eligible for vaccination. 

National Health Service England (NHSE) does publish data on how many vaccinations have been given by region and age, but information on race and ethnicity has not been made available since vaccines started being given out seven weeks ago.

Moreover, data suggests that only 60-70% of GP records have data on ethnicity and race and those that will be vaccinated are not always registered with a GP.

Partha Kar, a national specialty advisor for diabetes with NHS England and a doctor in Portsmouth, believes that ethnicity data should be recorded immediately and the collection of it during the vaccination process could still improve existing primary care records on ethnicity.

In response to this news, he tweeted: “Over four million people have had their vaccinations. We know [poorer] outcomes with COVID-19 is associated with age, ethnicity and deprivation.

“Do we have any data around the points two and three with regards [to] uptake? No mention in [the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s] priorities. What about data?”