DANGEROUS fake news is causing South Asians to reject the coronavirus vaccine, doctors have warned.

Some patients have refused to have the vaccine when offered it after hearing rumours that the jabs contains animal produce.

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Experts have now said that this is a "big concern" in some communities and doctors and health professionals are working to dismiss any fake news that patients may have picked up.

Two vaccines are currently being rolled out across the UK to the most vulnerable people in society and those who care for them.

Vaccine rollouts from Pfizer/Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca are in full swing.

Dr Harpreet Sood told the BBC that some NHS trusts are working with South Asian influencers and role models in order to try and convince people they can have the vaccine.

Dr Sood said: "We need to be clear and make people realise there is no meat in the vaccine, there is no pork in the vaccine, it has been accepted and endorsed by all the religious leaders and councils and faith communities."

"There's a big piece of work happening where we're translating information, we're making sure the look and feel of it reaches the populations that matter."

Messages circulating on social media platforms such as WhatsApp have been blamed for the misinformation.

Some have been claiming that the vaccines include beef or pork.

Eating beef goes against the religious beliefs of Hindus and eating pork goes against the religious beliefs of Muslims.

One doctor in the West Midlands said she had been calling patients to have the vaccine who had read the harmful information or have been told to not have the vaccine by relatives.

Dr Samara Afzal said she has had friends calling her asking her to convince their parents to have the vaccine because other family members have urged them not to have it.

'DISTURBING MYTHS'

People who live within various South Asian communities as well as practising Hindus and Muslims say they have been "bombarded" with anti vaccine rhetoric.

One beautician in Hampshire, who is a practising Hindu said some of the information being sent it "disturbing".

Reena Pujarasaid some videos includes information from medics who claim that the vaccines alter your DNA.

She said it's "confusing" for people.

One vaccine centre in Birmingham is also reaching out to the Muslim community in order to reassure them that the vaccines are safe.

Around 100 mosques across the country have also joined a campaign to urge people to get the jab.

The campaign works with local imams to use Friday sermons to urge people to have the jabs.

Polls also suggest that people from ethnic minority groups are less likely to have the vaccine than others.

Recent poll data from the Royal Society of Public Health revealed that 57 per cent of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people would take the vaccine compared with 79 per cent of white people.

Labour councillor Majid Mahmood today tweeted that he was "worried" about the low uptake in some Muslim communities.

He said: "I would urge everyone who is offered a vaccine to take it. Good to see that Imams across UK will be reassuring worshippers that the vaccine is safe."

The British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) have shown confidence in the vaccines and are recommending taking vaccines.

Outlining some of the concerns in the Muslim community, the Mosque and Imans Advisory Board said: "It is factually incorrect to say that the vaccines contain foetal cells and therefore should not be used.

"We are informed that the vaccines were not produced using foetal cell-lines, in the final production of the vaccine.

"A cell is hundreds of times bigger than a virus, so it is impossible for a cell to be in a virus! Further, no animal products have been used to produce the vaccines being used in Britain."

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