In an ambitious vaccine rollout, there was always bound to be a bump in the road before the UK reached its proverbial finish line in getting every eligible adult vaccinated.
The problem now facing the Government is that less than 60 per cent of 18-25-year-olds have had their first Covid-19 vaccination. With vaccines now available to adults over 18, young people are not approaching the vaccine with the same sense of urgency as their parents or grandparents. According to a report by The Sunday Times, the Prime Minister was said to be “raging” about the relatively low uptake of vaccination.
It makes sense to assume that this is because young people are less likely to require hospitalisation or die from catching coronavirus, and therefore are simply not as worried about catching it as someone who is more vulnerable. But even that commonly held belief is coming under scrutiny, with doctors warning of more young people with Covid arriving in intensive care units.
So why else is the uptake among this age group relatively low? The Times attempted to look into this question, and one young respondent answered simply: “I just don’t trust the Government.” It’s a sentiment that is not examined in detail in the article, despite being shared by many young people today.
A study by University College London looked at levels of trust during the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020 and found that older generations (those aged 74, 62 and 50) exhibited the highest average levels of trust in government and others, compared to 30 and 19-year-olds. Another study by the London School of Economics found that Generation Z (aged between 18-25) are less likely to have faith in elections and their own governments for the rest of their lives as a result of their experiences growing up during the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, Britain’s young population is likely to have spent a large chunk of their lives living under austerity, carrying with them the economic and social burden of the 2008 financial crash, and witnessing university and housing costs skyrocket while being told by the Government that all these things are still attainable. Over time, many of us came to believe that the Government was not there to serve our best interests at all, creating a deep-rooted distrust which is still evident today.
Working to rebuild that trust would have benefited the Government tremendously when it came to the vaccine rollout. Setting out concrete plans to tackle issues such as unemployment, given that under-35s accounted for 80 per cent of job losses in the past year, would have made younger people feel more supported.
Instead, the Government opted for desperate measures, which appears to be a default strategy at this point. In a last-ditch attempt to boost vaccine uptake among 18- to 25-year-olds, the Government announced, on “Freedom Day” no less, that being double jabbed would be a requirement from September to get into nightclubs and other yet-unspecified venues with large crowds. There are now also reports that university students will have to be fully vaccinated to attend lectures or stay in halls of residence.
Domestic passports have long proved controversial, and some Tory MPs are opposed to them on the grounds they are discriminatory and will work towards creating a “two tier” society. Forcing them on young people first, who were the last age group to be offered the vaccine, feels harsh and counterproductive, particularly amid the low levels of trust that this age group has already demonstrated in what their government tells them.
Despite pushback, given that nightclubs and universities are all areas young people tend to populate, there is already plenty of anecdotal evidence which would suggest that vaccine passports would be enough to sway young Brits to take the jab — not because they want to, but because they feel they have to.
Agree with them or not, the Government will likely achieve what it set out to do with its vaccine passport proposals, which is to get more people, particularly young people, vaccinated. But when it comes to earning back the trust they so desperately need, they risk losing an entire generation.
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