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In 2014, state officials assured residents that their water was safe to drink. It was not. Now, with the coronavirus vaccine rolling out across the country, some residents of Flint are wondering whether or not it is safe to take it. Reluctance is especially high in some black communities, which have a history of discrimination in the U.S. healthcare system (and beyond).
Omar Jimenez traveled to Flint to speak to residents about the impact of the water crisis on their opinion of the coronavirus vaccine.
CNN’s Go There team asked readers to ask questions about what it was like to report on Flint: How are residents coping and why does their skepticism persist? And what can we expect as the vaccine rollout continues?
Can Flint residents still drink safely from the tap? What is the residual impact on children and the younger generation?
In short, yes according to federal standards. Does everyone do it? No. In 2018, then governor Rick Synder said there was no longer a need to stick to bottled water after years of steadily decreasing lead and copper levels from from over 15 parts per billion in 2016 (a federal threshold that requires action) to less than 5 parts per billion by early 2018.
Although the water is safe by federal standards, the small amount of lead is still lead, and part of the reason why so many people still choose not to drink straight from the tap, including many children who have grown up since 2014 with it. this common practice. But more immediately, the American Journal of Public Health found that after the city made the decision to change its water source to the Flint River at the start of the crisis, “The percentage of children with high levels lead in blood increased after change of water source especially in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods Water is an increasing source of lead exposure in children due to aging infrastructure. “
The city currently draws its water from Lake Huron.
Ultimately, if kids don’t feel the physical repercussions of this, the mental repercussions still exist. I interviewed a man who told me that his young son asks him if it is okay to drink from the fountain when he travels to other states. It’s purely an instinct born out of growing up in Flint over the past 10 years.
This is an ideal framework for raising awareness of the reasons why certain communities are wary of the information disseminated. What Flint has endured and continues to endure is devastating. In what ways can we help?
In all fairness, a lot of this comes from being able to spot misinformation, but also putting pressure on the community and pushing to independently verify the numbers released by city and state officials. Part of Flint finding out the magnitude of the problem came from community reports. This is why groups like the Flint River Watershed Coalition, the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center and the Flint Water Study exist. The latter existed as an independent research team from Virginia Tech to help study the drinking water problems in Flint.
I’m sure there are groups you can donate to right now, but overall helping is just not letting what they’ve been through to happen in vain. Flint may not be a forgotten chapter in history, but rather a reminder of the real consequences of cutting costs at the expense of health and the pressure it sometimes takes from a community to foster real change.
Was there anything that surprised you while you were talking about this story and this community?
Yes, honestly, that was the skepticism that still exists. It’s easy to fall into the “Oh Flint HAPPENED, it’s not happening yet” trap, which is true to some extent. The water quality may be much better now. Yet hearing from people who still don’t trust the water was the face-to-face reminder (mask) I needed to fully realize the generational impact of just a few years when this crisis peaked.
One of the people I spoke to showed me the slow cooker she always keeps in her bathroom as a reminder of the time she used to boil water just to wash her face. She no longer uses it, but it sits there as a sort of memorial, a tomb from more threatening times. And then when you translate that mindset to the Covid-19 vaccine, you can imagine why there is reluctance. It has been declared safe by just about as many medical organizations as possible, but for these people, they were told that something was safe before, and it was not. So, it’s not that many will never get the vaccine, but in a strategy similar to the peak of the crisis, they want to do their own research first.
Do the residents you spoke to feel safe discussing their health and safety concerns with those responsible for helping them stay safe and healthy? Do you see a level of confidence?
This is a very good question, and overall I would say the answer is yes. People see Flint’s water crisis a lot up close rather than from a distance in the rear view. I think the level of confidence comes less from blindly following what those in power tell them, but rather from combining that with their own intuition and community resources.
A woman I spoke to helps organize Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center webinars and part of her mission is to enable the thousands of people they have been able to connect with to hear directly from doctors and ‘other trusted grassroots agents in the community so they can balance what they can. be informed of the state and / or city with what those with whom they can better identify are saying. There is confidence, but confidence now seems to consciously come from a variety of sources instead of just one.
What is the standard of care for Flint now during the pandemic? How are residents treated by the medical community?
The overall standard of care is very similar to what you would see in most other jurisdictions. Not perfect, but it works. As for Covid, like many other places, the county that is home to Flint peaked in November and December, but was able to bring its numbers under control and even now see less than 100 confirmed cases per day.
As for the way residents are treated, I think the commitment takes on a whole new meaning. Citizens are actively seeking more information, as members of the medical community increasingly realize the weight and importance of their voice. Even a high school student I spoke to in Flint is involved in more health clubs than I even knew existed during my high school years.
People, both in the community and in healthcare, seem to realize that they share a collective goal of not wanting to go back to where things were just a few years ago. Again, while not perfect (and I’m sure I miss individual grievances) members of the medical community participate in webinars, they participate in community events, in part because of the challenge. current takes everyone and that transparency seems to be the guiding principle.
I would like to know the diversity within these groups who hesitate to be vaccinated; Are there any subgroups distinguished by education, economy, etc. who might feel differently?
Also remember that “drinking water faucets manufactured before 2014 were allowed to contain up to 8% lead,” according to the state of Michigan, so those in poorer communities who are more likely to have faucets in this category are also less likely to be the first for what the state might tell them to do.
For the record, all vaccines that are on the market under FDA Emergency Use Clearance have been proven by numerous rigorous studies to be safe to use.
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