A short film, urging people from ethnic minority backgrounds to get their coronavirus vaccine, will be shown across the UK’s commercial television channels this evening. The film has already been released online and stars the likes of Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal and Romesh Ranganathan. It will air tonight at 9.56 PM on ITV, Channel4, Channel 5 and various SKY channels.
The BBC says that it cannot show the film because its charter prohibits it from taking part in campaigns. I’ll pause here while you laugh your ass off….OK. The Beeb won’t be showing it then, but the film’s participants will discuss it on BBC TV and radio shows tomorrow instead. The short was coordinated by Citizen Khan creator Adil Ray. He said:
“We are in unprecedented times and the fact remains this pandemic disproportionately affects people from ethnic minority communities. It’s heartening to see all the major broadcasters come together in an equally unprecedented television broadcast at this crucial time.”
If the broadcasters keep this up, pretty soon someone will moot the idea that we really only need one channel. Then again, maybe I’ve been watching too much sci-fi or reading too many dystopian novels. 
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan, speaking on BBC breakfast this morning said:
“My mum is a key worker, where she works it’s a lot of people from South Asian backgrounds and so my brother and I were obviously very worried about her and we just assumed that she was going to be willing and ready to take the vaccine. And then when it came down to us actually discussing it with her, she said, ‘I’ve actually got some doubts’, and so it took us by surprise but we were able to talk to her about and explain the various issues and now she feels OK to take it.”
I must have missed the news that Romesh Ranganathan had qualified as an epidemiologist. Apparently he was a maths teacher before embarking on his current career path, which has proven to be a very good move. He’s never off the telly even though he’s not very funny at all. Saying that though, there’s not much that makes me laugh these days.
I’ve never witnessed a propaganda campaign like this. It’s astounding. The entire political class, the whole of the media and the nations celebrities are relentlessly pushing this vaccination programme. Do they even know that the trials for some of the vaccines they have endorsed haven’t concluded yet and won’t end until 2023? I suppose not. But they ought to.
