A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic - Laura Dodsworth (the first e reader .txt) š
- Author: Laura Dodsworth
Book online Ā«A State of Fear: How the UK government weaponised fear during the Covid-19 pandemic - Laura Dodsworth (the first e reader .txt) šĀ». Author Laura Dodsworth
Adil Ray, a British actor and presenter, launched a video3 to promote vaccine take-up in ethnic minorities on 25 January 2021. It was rapturously received and shared by celebrities, politicians and the media. The video made strong claims about the vaccine. It also followed on the back of two relevant SPI-B papers that I had just read.
There are issues with the take up of vaccines among ethnic communities in Britain and the video obviously aimed to dispel myths and encourage confidence. According to a government paper, Factors influencing COVID-19 vaccine uptake among minority ethnic groups,4 published on 17 December 2020, āwhite groupsā are 70% likely to take various vaccines, whereas only 50% of āBlack African and Black Caribbean groupsā5 are likely to be vaccinated.
The paper suggested āculturally tailored communication, shared by trusted sourcesā, such as āeducational videosā to āincrease awarenessā and āaddress misperceptionsā. Importantly, such communications should not be āaffiliated with government or formal healthcare servicesā in order to be āmore trusted by some groupsā. The report also recommended providing immunisations in community-based settings and religious sites. Robert Jenrick, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities & Local Government, also talked about the importance of this as he visited the UKās first vaccination centre in a mosque6 ā the plan clearly put into action. As Dr Daisy Fancourt had told me, it āmustnāt look like itās propaganda. It needs to come fromā¦ influencersā. The key word is ālookā ā it mustnāt look like propaganda, even if it is.
A report, Role of Community Champions networks to increase engagement in context of COVID-19: evidence and best practice,7 published on 22 October 2020, recommended the use of community champions in health contexts where trust is low. Since that report, over Ā£23 million of funding has been allocated to 60 councils and voluntary groups across England to expand work to support those most at risk from Covid-19 and boost vaccine take-up.8
Was Adil Rayās video part of a government-initiated campaign to increase trust and confidence in the vaccination programme? It seemed to tick SPI-Bās boxes. The video finished with an end credit saying that it was ārecorded independently from the governmentā. The word ārecordedā is telling. Could it have been conceived by the government, or scripted by the government, or given PR support by the government? And if not the government, could an intermediary agency employed by a unit like RICU at the Home Office have kickstarted it? If it was created at an armās length from the government, the people involved with the video might have no idea there was any government connection at all.
As with Clap for Carers, I donāt want to denigrate the intentions of the campaign or the people involved, but to draw attention to possible covert psychological manipulation, which I believe deserves public scrutiny.
Like Clap for Carers, the video was also instantly and positively shared by celebrities, the media and politicians, which indicates helpful hands behind the scenes, although itās possible that the famous faces in the video may have propelled it into the spotlight on their own. But as with Clap for Carers, I found obtaining answers difficult, which is suspicious. And Iām told by those on the inside that this is one of the hallmarks of a government propaganda campaign.
I tweeted Ray to say I was going to write about the video and that I had some questions. I asked if it had been produced independently or by an agency, and he said āwe produced it with lots of help, but no agencyā. Nevertheless, when I said I had questions, he passed me on to an agency ā Samir Ahmed, founder of Media Hive agency. On the agency website it says Ahmed has worked with āBollywood stars and YouTube sensations to UK politicians and global philanthropistsā. (Politicians?) Ahmed said he couldnāt help with my questions either.
I tried to fact-check the claims in the video with the NHS, MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), Public Health England and the Department of Health and Social Care. They arenāt the easiest press teams to deal with, but in a really poor show, I only received opaque responses to my fact-checking questions from the MHRA ā the others ignored my emails and calls. The Cabinet Office did reply to tell me that the video was ānot part of a government campaignā.
As I was finding it hard to make headway, I contacted the anonymous scientist for an opinion. āAh yes, this video is Nudge 101,ā they sagely observed, āand the fact that no one is answering you and you are being fobbed off means itās come out of the government.ā I called the ex-government propaganda contact: āI only had to watch the first few seconds to see itās come out of a government department. Itās an openly discussed problem that the Muslims donāt trust the government and this is their solution. Put it this way, white people sit around in a room saying brown people are the problem, then they use brown people to fix the problem. Itās not sophisticated. If you approached the people who made it and they bounced it around and wouldnāt answer you, thatās typical of something thatās been done with government in the background. Itās the kind of thing we used to do when I worked at the agency.ā
I emailed Samir Ahmed at the agency in āone last tryā as my book manuscript deadline was looming. His reply was interesting: āHi Laura, I believe youāve been in touch with Cabinet Office comms etc as well so you should be able to get something from them. Unfortunately Iām just not the best person to direct questions to as Iāve mentioned before. Thanks, Samir.ā Iād been told by Adil Ray
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