South West London CCG Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21

see more men and a younger age group join the second session. At the beginning of the discussion less than half were keen to have the vaccine, but at the end all indicated they were going to have the jab when offered it. Richmond Healthwatch webinar We have worked with several of our local community partners to engage with residents and communities about the Covid vaccination programme. Together with Healthwatch, we hosted a virtual webinar joined by more than 300 Richmond residents. Healthwatch Chair Julie Risley chaired a Q&A, with a panel including Dr Patrick Gibson, GP Borough Lead for Richmond, Tonia Michaelides, Richmond Locality Executive Director, and Shannon Katiyo, Richmond Council’s Director of Public Health. The webinar is available on Healthwatch Richmond website for those who couldn’t attend and the wider population. Watch the webinar at https:// www.healthwatchrichmond.co.uk/ news/2021-03-19/Covid-19-vaccinations- richmond-live-webinar Working with higher at-risk groups We partnered with Multicultural Richmond and Richmond Council to host a Q&A event for residents from an ethnic minority background. The event is available on Richmond Council’s YouTube channel, ensuring it is available to a wider audience than those that joined on the day. Watch the event at www.youtu.be/uY9nYul6kV0 We are also working closely with community organisations in our less affluent areas to ensure residents can engage in the discussion about the vaccine and put their questions direct to local GPs, like the “Let’s talk about the vaccine” community conversation, hosted by Castelnau Community Project. Though most attendees indicated they had or would have the vaccine, there were a few maybes who when asked again at the end of the conversation had changed to saying they would have the vaccine. The main topics for discussion were: safety of the vaccine in relation to fertility and pregnancy; and side effects and safety concerns with the AstraZeneca vaccine, after media coverage about the potential link between the vaccine and developing blood clots – a link that has now been disproved. We are also starting conversations with our younger population. The first was with Youth Out Loud! (YOL!) and Kingston & Richmond Youth Parliament. We answered questions on wanting to understand more about the speed of the trials and safety, the role of fake news and scepticism about long terms effects and effectiveness. We discussed what it means for younger people under 18 years of age; for example, “helping us get back to normal”. YOL! and our Youth Council are keen to encourage debate and share information about the vaccine with young people. They have suggested working with the us to design social media posts targeting younger people and having the vaccine as a future topic for their YOL!Talks podcast series. Listen to the podcast at www. healthwatchrichmond.co.uk/news/2021-03- 10/yoltalks-podcast-series-youth-out-loud Annual Report and Accounts 2020/21 | 71