Covid-19 response and BAME communities

That this House notes that covid-19 has had a disproportionate effect on those from a Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority (BAME) background; understands that the highest age standardised diagnosis rates of covid-19 per 100,000 population were in people of Black ethnic groups and the lowest were in people of white ethnic groups; acknowledges that the mortality rate from covid-19 among people of Black African descent in English hospitals was 3.5 times higher when compared to rates among white British people; further notes that after accounting for the effect of sex, age, deprivation and region, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death when compared to people of white British ethnicity; recognises that people of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and other Black ethnicity had between 10 per cent and 50 per cent higher risk of death from covid-19 compared to white British people; notes that 95 per cent of doctors who have died were BAME; believes that BAME communities should be prioritised for a vaccine rollout in addition to the other vulnerable groups and healthcare workers; calls on the Government to amend its advice on priority groups for covid-19 vaccination in order to reflect this; and urges the Government to communicate this widely through a range of effective and targeted media.