NHS doctors, nurses, pharmacists, volunteers and more are continuing to encourage Muslim communities across the East and West Midlands to come forward to receive the life-saving COVID-19 vaccine during the Holy Month of Ramadan.

Before the festival began on Monday 12 April, medical leaders and the majority of Islamic scholars came together to agree that receiving the vaccine would not break the Muslim practice of fasting during Ramadan.

The British Islamic Medical Association, an affiliate of the Muslim Council of Britain, issued specific advice that recommended the vaccine and made clear it is acceptable to receive the vaccine during Ramadan, as the vaccine is not nutritional and does not contain any animal or foetal products.

‘Ramadan is a special time of year for Muslims’

Dr Shehla Imtiaz-Umer

Each and every day during Ramadan, those calls have been echoed by frontline NHS staff working to deliver vaccines across the Midlands, as a host of the region’s respected NHS staff – many of who are practicing Muslims observing Ramadan themselves – continue to encourage take-up of the vaccine.

Those staff include Dr Shehla Imtiaz-Umer – a GP at the Wilson Street Surgery practice in Derby city centre and a volunteer with the British Islamic Medical Association – who has been helping to increase vaccine take-up throughout the month.

“Ramadan is a special time of year for Muslims, so it has been important to understand what those hesitancies are and what the potential issues were likely to be for people,” Dr Imtiaz-Umer said.

“From my perspective, it’s about trying to understand the concerns and contextualising them within Islamic and medical guidance about the importance of taking up the vaccination. It’s about having empathy with those communities, rather than telling people ‘you must do this’.

“There is a lot of emphasis in Islam on protecting ourselves, our families and our communities, so our work has involved aligning those principles with the advice we’re offering to our communities.

“It’s been a huge combined effort to get that message out.”

Join the millions who have already received the vaccine

Over 8.1million vaccine doses have been delivered across the East and West Midlands since the biggest vaccination programme in the history of the NHS began right here in the Midlands at University Hospitals Coventry on Tuesday 8 December.

In the East Midlands, more than 2.5million people have already received a first dose of the vaccine while over 1million second doses have been delivered.

In the West Midlands, over 3million people have received a first dose of the vaccine while more than 1.3million second doses have been administered.

‘We have made huge inroads’

Pharmacist Aftab Rehman

Despite early suggestions that some Muslims may defer receiving the vaccine during Ramadan, uptake among those communities has remained consistent throughout the month.

That progress has been helped by a number of vaccination sites across the Midlands extending their opening hours to offer ‘twilight’ clinics and taking the vaccine out into communities to ‘pop-up’ services at places of worship and drop-in clinics to make it as convenient as possible for communities to receive the vaccine.

All this has been made by possible by NHS people like Aftab Rehman – a pharmacist who works closely with Dr Imtiaz-Umer in Derby – who work with communities across the Midlands to better understand their needs and adapt local services to suit them.

“We have been working hard to get the message out to our fellow Muslims in the run-up to and during Ramadan to encourage people to come forward to get vaccinated,” he said.

“My main concern was second doses – I didn’t want people to miss out on the vital second dose when it is due, so we have been promoting the fact that it’s permissible to receive the vaccine during Ramadan and have accommodated those few people who have said that they’d prefer not to receive the vaccine during the month.”

‘The vast majority of Muslims and scholars say it does not break your fast and it is perfectly fine’

Clinicians have also been working shoulder-to-shoulder with community leaders to help share these important messages during Ramadan – something that Aftab has credited as being key to boosting confidence in the vaccine.

“We are still having Muslims coming to us during Ramadan asking ‘will it break your fast and is it allowed?’ My response is that the vast majority of Muslims and scholars say it does not break your fast and it is perfectly fine.

“There was some real hesitancy at the start of the year but we have made huge inroads and we are seeing that hesitancy reducing.

“One of the most important things that I myself did to help reassure people was to vaccinate my 85-year old father. That had a huge reaction locally as people began to see that if my own father was happy to be vaccinated then it must be fine.

“The importance of community role models has been key too and I’ve personally vaccinated a number of Imams from our local mosques who have played their part in sharing these important messages out in the community.”

How to book your vaccine when invited

When invited, people will be able to book in at a vaccination centre or pharmacy site through the national booking service.

The NHS currently vaccinates using three vaccines, Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca, all of which have been approved as safe and effective by the world leading medical regulator the MHRA.

People who cannot go online can call the service on 119 instead to book their jab.

Text invitations appear as an alert from ‘NHSvaccine’, including a web link to the NHS website to reserve an appointment.