The UK will adjust its coronavirus campaign to account for Ramadan, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Tuesday.
Ministers are looking to future phases of the vaccine campaign after the top four priority groups, representing 15 million people, were offered a vaccine by Monday’s deadline.
Medical officials are considering whether people should be made priorities for vaccines based on their ethnicity and profession during the next stage of the staggered distribution strategy.
The proposal came as officials grow increasingly concerned over “a tsunami of misinformation” leading to public reluctance to take the vaccine.
Authorities have also raised concern over slow take-up of the vaccine among medical staff, while scientists have been forced to dispel claims that the coronavirus drug adversely affects fertility among women.
Mr Zahawi said those who were hesitant or outright refused to take the shot were “heavily skewed” towards minority groups.
He acknowledged that Muslims may be reluctant to receive their first shot because injection of the second dose would take place during Ramadan, which begins on April 12.
The UK allows for a 12-week delay between vaccine shots, so those who receive their first dose in the next few weeks would receive their second while they are fasting.
“Ramadan is something that we’ve got to make sure that the system adjusts to be able to deal with that,” he told Sky News.
“Faith leaders in the Muslim community have come out very clearly … they have come forward and said: “Take your vaccine, it protects you’.”
Mr Zahawi said that the government had plans in place for vaccine distribution during Ramadan, which begins on April 12, but did not say when they would be announced.
“We know that black and ethnic minority communities are disproportionately impacted by this virus, so come forward and take this first dose and we’ll make sure we accommodate any issues around Ramadan, or any other religious festival, to make sure that you can get your second dose safely and in the correct way,” he said.
The National asked the Department of Health for further comment on how it will deal with the issue.
The British Islamic Medical Association said it was acceptable to receive a coronavirus vaccine during Ramadan.
“Taking the Covid-19 vaccines currently licensed in the UK does not invalidate the fast, as per the opinion of Islamic scholars,” it said.
“Individuals should not delay their Covid vaccinations on the account of Ramadan.”
Mr Zahawi said 89 per cent of people took a vaccine in the UK when offered one, while 11 per cent were "vaccine hesitant".
He confirmed that the government had asked the vaccine taskforce - the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation - to study whether vaccines should be prioritised based on ethnicity and profession during the next phase.
Ministers are aiming to offer a vaccine to everyone aged over 50 and all adults in at-risk groups by May.
“We think it’s right to ask the question over who should be prioritised next,” Mr Zahawi told the BBC.
However, government sources told The Telegraph that ethnicity was more likely to be targeted in the next phase rather than the type of worker - such as teachers, police officers or supermarket workers - because it could "create too much complication" and slow down vaccine distribution.
People from black and ethnic minority groups are more likely to die from Covid-19, data suggested.
Sir Simon Stevens, head of the NHS, promised that the pace of vaccination would double between now and April.
People aged 65 to 69 are being called to receive the vaccine after everyone in the top four groups was offered a shot.
Ministers have not yet set out how the vaccines will be prioritised among the remaining adults in the top nine categories - about 21 million people.
Charlotte Gainsbourg
Rest
(Because Music)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Five%20calorie-packed%20Ramadan%20drinks
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ERooh%20Afza%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E100ml%20contains%20414%20calories%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ETang%20orange%20drink%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E100ml%20serving%20contains%20300%20calories%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECarob%20beverage%20mix%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E100ml%20serving%20contains%20about%20300%20calories%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EQamar%20Al%20Din%20apricot%20drink%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E100ml%20saving%20contains%2061%20calories%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EVimto%20fruit%20squash%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E100ml%20serving%20contains%2030%20calories%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Match info
Australia 580
Pakistan 240 and 335
Result: Australia win by an innings and five runs
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Low turnout
Two months before the first round on April 10, the appetite of voters for the election is low.
Mathieu Gallard, account manager with Ipsos, which conducted the most recent poll, said current forecasts suggested only two-thirds were "very likely" to vote in the first round, compared with a 78 per cent turnout in the 2017 presidential elections.
"It depends on how interesting the campaign is on their main concerns," he told The National. "Just now, it's hard to say who, between Macron and the candidates of the right, would be most affected by a low turnout."
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
The Brutalist
Director: Brady Corbet
Stars: Adrien Brody, Felicity Jones, Guy Pearce, Joe Alwyn
Rating: 3.5/5
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
Five hymns the crowds can join in
Papal Mass will begin at 10.30am at the Zayed Sports City Stadium on Tuesday
Some 17 hymns will be sung by a 120-strong UAE choir
Five hymns will be rehearsed with crowds on Tuesday morning before the Pope arrives at stadium
‘Christ be our Light’ as the entrance song
‘All that I am’ for the offertory or during the symbolic offering of gifts at the altar
‘Make me a Channel of your Peace’ and ‘Soul of my Saviour’ for the communion
‘Tell out my Soul’ as the final hymn after the blessings from the Pope
The choir will also sing the hymn ‘Legions of Heaven’ in Arabic as ‘Assakiroo Sama’
There are 15 Arabic speakers from Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in the choir that comprises residents from the Philippines, India, France, Italy, America, Netherlands, Armenia and Indonesia
The choir will be accompanied by a brass ensemble and an organ
They will practice for the first time at the stadium on the eve of the public mass on Monday evening
The specS: 2018 Toyota Camry
Price: base / as tested: Dh91,000 / Dh114,000
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 298hp @ 6,600rpm
Torque: 356Nm @ 4,700rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
