A SPECIAL clinic has vaccinated more than 180 residents from Dorset's black, Asian and minority communities against Covid-19.

The dedicated clinic, set up at the large scale vaccination site at Bournemouth International Centre BIC, was held in a bid, Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust says, to dispel the myths and misinformation responsible for people being hesitant about the vaccine.

Recent statistics have shown white people were the most and people of black African ethnicity were the least likely to have had a jab.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has concluded location, education and health accounted for just 30 per cent of this gap.

Meanwhile, an ONS report released earlier this month showed men and women in the black community are over four times (4.2 and 4.3 times respectively) as likely to die from Covid-19.

Men of Bangladeshi and Pakistani origin were also 3.6 times more likely to have a Covid-19-related death, while the figure for women was 3.4 times more likely.

Belinda Andrews-Jones, Dorset HealthCare’s BIC vaccination centre operations manager, organised the Bournemouth clinic. She said: “Ethnic minority populations have a greater risk of both infection and death from Covid-19 infections and there is a growing evidence to suggest that people from these communities are less likely to take up the offer of a Covid-19 vaccine.

"To break down these barriers, we worked closely with the Bournemouth Poole and Christchurch Indian Community Group to encourage their community to come to our clinic and get vaccinated.

"We were really pleased that over 180 ethnic minority people came forward and received their first dose of the vaccine at our specially arranged clinic.”

Dorset HealthCare joined forces with the Bournemouth Poole and Christchurch Indian Community Group.

Anjali Mavi from the Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch Indian Community Group, said: "The clinic was a fantastic opportunity for many of the our community to receive their vaccine, but also to raise awareness of why it’s important.

"It’s vital our community comes together to get vaccinated so we can all move forward and be Covid free.”