On Wednesday 3rd February, the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Neasden opened a new vaccination centre to aid the delivery of Covid-19 vaccines being administered by the National Health Service (NHS).
Home Secretary Priti Patel visited the centre, at the premises of Swaminarayan School opposite the temple, and hailed the local community's "heroic effort" which will help save lives.
She tweeted, "It is a heroic effort that is saving lives. It will save your life when you have the vaccine and it will save the lives of other people, too."
The home secretary has been leading a drive to counter reported reluctance within the country's ethnic minority communities about taking up the vaccine. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also expressed concerns around "vaccine hesitancy" among these communities and stressed that people should have confidence in the life-saving jabs.
