The Covid-19 Vaccine is Here: Black Americans are Wary

The F.D.A. authorized Moderna’s Covid vaccine just one week after Pfizer. Sandra Lindsay, a Black nurse in New York, was the first to receive the vaccine. Many minority communities are wary of vaccination. The American government will have to answer the question of how these vaccines will roll out to each of these communities. How will insurance incorporate fees and what about those who do not have a healthcare plan? 

Medical Mistrust

Black Americans are the least likely group of people to take the vaccination according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Many Black Americans think of racial disparities in modern U.S. medicine. Although it has pushed the idea of protection, Black Americas have experienced harm.

Medical mistrust is connected to scientific racism.  Scientific racism is the belief that empirical evidence exists to support or justify racism. This form of racism has been around since the thirteenth amendment was ratified.

Similarly, enslaved Africans were used for many things because scientists argued that African men possessed more physical power than the average white person. In the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, 600 Black American men were unaware they were being injected with Syphilis and were told they were receiving treatment for bad blood.

Modern-Day Medicine 

These ideas perpetuate harm to Black women and men in modern medicine. The CDC reports that Black women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes. 

Then there’s the story of Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman, who died in 1951 of cervical and had her cells taken without her permission. Her cells, in the hands of Johns Hopkins Hospital, were sent around the world for the betterment of medicine. Her family fought for years to obtain compensation for the use of her cells.  These medical inconsistencies, which are not the first, leave many Black Americans feeling vulnerable. 

The protests this past spring and summer in relation to many Black lives wasted by police have left more Black Americans skeptical. The broader skepticism leaves many Blacks distrusting the system. Who will save them—if not themselves? The medical mistrust and political chaos has affected the efforts of Black Americans for trials, which in turn affects them being vaccinated. 

The wait-and-see approach 

One possible result is Black Americans utilizing the wait-and-see approach and monitoring who is taking the vaccine. In addition, this will only slow the progress of immunity, thereby affecting more Black Americans, especially those who are essential workers. Thus, giving more time for the virus to spread in predominantly Black communities. Healthcare Finance reports that Black Americans who are essential workers in 26 states and D.C. are at higher risk of infection and death from the virus. It’s vital for the vaccine to make its way to these communities, for the protection of our essential workers, who are mostly Black Americans. 

The Future

Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, a Black American scientist, was a key component behind the Covid- 19 vaccine. She is at the forefront of the development of the vaccine. One of Dr. Corbett’s main goals is to remove the distrust between Black Americans and medicine. We need more doctors like Dr. Corbett in healthcare spaces. Thus, shattering the trust barrier between medicine and Black Americans. 

As a result, a Stanford study put Black men in pairs with either non-Black doctors or Black doctors. They discovered that these men were more open to Black doctors. They were even able to consent to preventive screenings like immunizations and cardiovascular screenings. Now, take that study and apply it to how these vaccinations should be rolled out in the Black community. Black people need more of their faces on the health frontlines fighting this virus, like Dr. Corbett.