Many migrants have not yet taken the corona vaccine. This does not bode well for the overall vaccination coverage. Especially Dutch people with a migrant background refuse the shot, according to joint research by GGD Amsterdam, Amsterdam UMC and Pharos. APH researcher Charles Agyemang (professor of Global Migration, Ethnicity & Health at Amsterdam UMC) shares his views.

At the end of May, 80 percent of native Dutch population said they would definitely get vaccinated. Among migrant groups the average was 43 percent. Experts speak of a "vaccination gap" that could lead to a new wave of infection in the fall or winter. According to Charles Agyemang, the wildest stories about the vaccine are circulating among Dutch people of non-Western origin.

Agyemang is keen to stress that in the vaccination debate, one must guard against stigmatizing minorities. 'It is very important not to see the people themselves as the problem, but the circumstances that make them not want the vaccine.' The vaccine gap is just as much an information gap: older people with a migrant background often lack access to vital knowledge for a variety of reasons.

Read more in Volkskrant (in Dutch) about other factors that contribute to the problem.