Hello, my name is Jahangir Alom and I’m an A&E Doctor working across East London. Outside of my clinical work I have several voluntary roles include elected Council Member at the British Medical Association and the Programme Director at a small NGO that works primarily in Bangladesh called Selfless UK.

I’ve worked with confirmed COVID-19 patients since the beginning of the pandemic. I’ve always been nervous about getting sick or worse passing on the virus to my loved ones. When the vaccine was announced I was relieved. COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted the ethnic minority community. I have spent over a decade advocating for marginalised communities and wanted to use this experience to ensure ethnic communities were getting appropriate care and support through the pandemic.

Vaccine hesitancy in our community comes from decades of poor healthcare experience and mistrust. I understand that. I’ve been working on a campaign to show my community that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe and needs to be taking up in order to save ourselves and our loved ones.