Having the COVID-19 vaccine is your choice and we want to help you make an informed decision, using trusted information based on facts. You can read our frequently asked questions as well as using the resources on this page.
The two approved vaccines; Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca are safe and have been through rigorous checks, as well as extensive trials involving over 20,000 people.
For black, Asian and minority ethnic communities
For further information, AskDoc are producing multiple information videos on COVID-19 and the vaccine in English as well as Urdu, Punjabi, Gujarati, Tamil, Sylheti, Somali, Arabic, Bengali, Pushto and Farsi. View the videos on YouTube here.
The BBC has produced a variety of video content in five South Asian languages; Urdu, Punjabi, Sylheti, Tamil and Gujarati. Content includes:
What is the advice for people who follow Muslim faith, Hindu faith or Jewish faith?
For Muslim faith, there is information produced by the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) – this includes BIMA position statement on the Pfizer BioNTech and Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines, myths and webinars which BIMA have taken part in about the COVID-19 vaccine.
For Hindu faith, Neasden Temple has produced a video in Gujerati to explain the facts about coronavirus, providing reassurance on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine. Both vaccines do not contain any animal product or egg.
For Jewish faith, The Conference of European Rabbis have released position statements on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
Salford GPs plea: get your COVID vaccine
Healthcare professionals explaining the vaccine in other community languages
NHS doctors, nurses and other frontline staff have come forward to help reassure communities that COVID-19 vaccines are safe, effective and have been independently tested to the highest standards.
NHS staff have recorded messages in some of the most commonly spoken languages – apart from English – to help ensure messages about the importance of getting a COVID-19 vaccine reach as many people as possible.
More videos are in development in additional languages and will be uploaded here.
- Arabic: Ayat Ghafori, a clinical pharmacist, talks about the COVID-19 vaccine
- Bengali: Dr Amal Paul on the importance of having the COVID-19 vaccine when invited
- Gujarati: Sangita Patel, clinical lead for therapies at London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust
- Igbo: Comfort Ekwueme, triage and assessment team leader at Tower Hamlet’s Community Services, East London NHS Foundation Trust
- Nepali: Sumita Regmi, dementia specialist nurse
- Polish: Kasia Kurkowiak-Jolley, Apprentice Nurse Associate
- Punjabi: Dr Harmandeep Singh, cardiology consultant
- Romanian: Stefania Vasilescu, Maternity Assistant
- Somali: Dr Farah Bede, GP
- Spanish: Lorena González, Specialist Speech and Language Therapist
- Swahili: Vivian Motana, Healthcare Assistant
- Turkish: Dr Muhiddin Ozkor, consultant cardiologist
Professor Jonathan Valabhji is national clinical director for diabetes and obesity at NHS England. He is a consultant diabetologist at St Mary's Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and explains below why BAME patients, and those with diabetes, should get vaccinated
Celebrities including Meera Syal, Adil Ray, Moeen Ali, Konnie Huq, Rageh Omaar, Sanjeev Bhaskar and more talk about the benefits of the vaccine
NHS COVID Pass
An NHS COVID Pass letter allows you to show others that you’ve had a full course of the COVID-19 vaccine when travelling abroad to some countries or territories. Please read what your NHS COVID Pass letter tells you in different laguages here.
If you do not have access to a smartphone, computer or tablet, you can call 119 from within the UK. Select the ‘NHS COVID Pass service’ and ask for an NHS COVID Pass letter to be posted to you.
You should keep the original English language version of your letter. You will be asked to show it if you travel abroad.
If you ask for an NHS COVID Pass letter about your COVID-19 status, but cannot get one, you’ll get a different letter in the post explaining why.
This different letter will also tell you what to do next.
The information you get in the letter will be in English. You can read the non-personal information in the letter in different languages on this page.