In the course of the crisis, we have learned the coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on people from black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

Recent public health England data shows that more than 10 months into the pandemic, non white groups still have a higher age adjusted mortality rate than their white counterparts.

Many health care workers fighting the virus on the front line are part of these minority ethnic communities.

It's the interaction is closer.

Sangeeta Corp It'll is a radiologist of Indian descent.

She lives in Lancaster with her husband, a surgeon on her son, a medical student.

She and her husband fell sick with co vid during the first wave.

However, very nearly cost Sangeeta her life.

I vent Thio Emergency department late March around 26th, 27th that time on ground came back home on 17th of July.

So the time period, I don't remember.

I'm one of the most fortunate person to survive this disease.

After going through a very severe form off it.

It was my family who suffered more than me at that time.

They were called at least three times to say goodbye to me when I was in ventilator.

They have to go through discussion.

Self do not resuscitate kind off situation.

It was like being pulled back from the jaws of death.

Actually, that's what it waas.

Having lost her voice and the ability to walk during her ordeal, Sangeeta says her NHS trust has been exemplary and supportive to both her on her family.

But not all minority ethnic healthcare workers have had the same positive experiences.

Sangeeta, the British Medical Association, has expressed particular concern about the way vaccines are being rolled out for doctors working in hospitals are service have been asking doctors whether they've received the first dose of the vaccine or the second dose on.

What we're finding is that a significant numbers of doctors have now received their first US.

When we asked whether there was any increase in uptake based upon high risk factor or BME status, there's been no difference shown between those BME doctors to receive the vaccine.

Andi, their white counterparts.

We feel that what we should have been seeing is a very clear prioritization off those who are at highest risk getting the vaccine first so that they could be protected to carry on working on the front line.

The government has been guided by the independent advisory group, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization.

When deciding who is prioritized in the vaccine rollout, front line health and social care workers are in the second priority group.

The FBI has also advised the vaccines could be deployed locally with regard to mitigating health inequalities within each priority group, such as the heightened risk faced by people from minority ethnic backgrounds.

I spoke to one minority ethnic medic who works daily on a coronavirus ward in London.

He agreed to speak to us on the condition of anonymity for fear of Reprisals from his trust.

We're calling him Raj.

His experience illustrates some of the BMA's concerns in my organization.

I have not been made aware of any kind of prioritizing, so when it comes to the vaccine, I feel no one has any priority within the workforce.

Crucially, Raj has underlying health conditions.

He told me that when it comes to his hospital assessing his height and risk during the pandemic, the process has been lacking.

Have they made any attempt to find out about your house thes risk assessment have not been done the way they had been intended to.

So in reality, I can't speak for the whole organization.

But in my experience, I've completed the form only with the information part.

There is supposed to be a meeting with the manager or someone from the employee's behalf.

These meetings have not been taking place.

Members have completed the forms with their personal details and submitted to their manager on the matter ended.

At that point, which has no significance whatsoever, it should not be a box ticking exercise.

In recent weeks, Newsnight has been speaking to a range of ethnic minority health care professionals across England.

They share the same concerns as Raj about risk assessments amounting to what he calls a box ticking exercise, as does an Algerian who is on the British Medical Associations Equality and Inclusion Advisory Group.

About what I see is, uh, quite a bit of fatigue in the system and way are hearing for a member that a lot of time risk assessment, tick box exercise, you know, our ask is that medical risk assessment should be undertaken and then on the basis of that, uh, mitigation should be agreed with the health and social care worker with our members, you know, if risk assessment are undertaken, but mitigation is not agreed or support it if that doesn't work very well.

With the NHS stretched to the seems during the recent wave characterized by a newer, potentially more deadly variant, losing minority ethnic staff to covert can only make the fight against coronavirus harder.

After all, 1/5 of our NHS workers are from black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.

But how easy is it to keep minority groups on the front line when we still don't know precisely why they have been so badly affected by this virus, Jasmine, Erica and well, we put the BMA's concerns relating to vaccination and risk assessment.

NHS, England A spokesperson says.

We want all staff to be offered and then to accept covert vaccination and staff uptake is going well.

The NHS set out clear guidelines toe all local trust in April on they must carry out risk assessments following NHS employers guidelines for BME staff and other at risk groups.

On this happened the Department of Health and social care told is that NHS organizations are working tirelessly to protect all healthcare staff, on particular those vital colleagues from particular communities who've been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.