he Keyboard Trust would like to invite you to a special online Zoom meeting titled - Covid-19 Is the Vaccine Safe? - (BAME Community )

This event is for Churches and members from the Black, Asian and minority ethnic community. There will be an opportunity for people to share their concerns with experts prior to the event (see below) and on the night, from the Astra Zeneca research team, members from the medical profession and community leaders

The evening will include a presentation, Q&A and a short video.

PLATFORM:

Zoom. If you haven’t already downloaded Zoom yet, you can use this link: https://zoom.us/support/download.

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Submitting Questions

When you buy a ticket, you also have the option to submit one questions ahead of time, for the panel. Please keep your questions on topic with the event. We cannot guarantee that the panel will be able to answer all questions that are submitted, but they will answer as many on-topic questions as possible.

The Panellist: will include:

· Dr Marion Watson a senior research scientist on the Oxford vaccine programme - she is currently worshipping regularly at Christ Church, Downend and her husband was one of the first to have the vaccine as part of the earliest trials.

· Dr Rajeka Lazarus, one of the doctors in charge of the vaccination roll out in Bristol who has been involved in some of the other public awareness initiatives.

· Dr Jo Brooks - Consultant community paediatrician and vice chair of the Bristol race equality covid-19 steering group.

· Carol Slater, Health Equity Lead, Public Health.

Your host’s on the night will be:

· Bishop Ray Veira, House of Praise - Church of God of Prophecy, Bristol.

· Bishop Dexter Edmund, Bethel Church, Bristol.

Your facilitators will be:

· Carmen Carrol - Keyboard Trust Networker.

· Rev Chris Dobson - Ecumenical and Global Partnership Officer for Bristol Diocese.

The aim of this meeting is not to tell people what to do, but to create a safe environment that gives people as much information as clearly as possible to make their own decision. The people that we hope will come are not primely the church leaders but also its members from the BAME community who have questions and want to know more about the vaccines, how they are made and whether their legitimate concerns can be answered. Every question will be taken seriously and the panel is going to be extremely honest in recognising the real grounds people have for suspicion and the realities within our health services today that affect members of the BAME community.

The initial interviews and questions will cover and include:

· Conspiracy theories.

· Negative experiences of people from the BAME community both historically and in the present.

· The hostile NHS environment.

· The facts about the nature of the vaccines - how they are made, the science behind them, how and why they work.

· The facts about how they have been developed so fast when usually they take much longer.

· The depth of the disproportionate impact on BAME communities, with a huge increase in funerals.

Many thanks and we hope to see you there. If you have any questions please do get in touch.