Misinformation and attitudes towards COVID-19 vaccines among Polish migrants in the UK: a clinician’s perspective

Rapid vaccine-induced population immunity is the key global strategy to control COVID-19 pandemic. However, coordination of the deployment of the vaccination programmes varies significantly between countries. In the meantime, we have witnessed an unprecedented media coverage of the deployment of the COVID-19 vaccination programmes. Unfortunately, most of those reports were incomplete, poorly understood, and misguided – often fuelling growing vaccine hesitancy among the public caused by unfounded fears and confusion. For the last 10 years the author of this paper has lived and worked as a healthcare professional in the UK. In December 2019 he has volunteered to support the rollout of the mass vaccination programme against COVID-19 – the largest civilian logistical operation ever conducted in Britain. This article describes his personal observations on how Poles living in the UK approach the vaccination programme, and the challenges related to immunisation of Polish citizens in the UK, including vaccine (mis)information.