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- Black Americans are less likely to get the coronavirus vaccine than whites, but are more likely to get sick and die from COVID-19.
- Some worry about the speed of vaccine development. Dr James EK Hildreth, a black immunologist, explained how the process was safely sped up.
- He also said the coronavirus vaccine “has nothing to do with Tuskegee” in part because black scientists like him have been involved every step of the way.
- Visit the Business Insider homepage for more stories.
As the coronavirus vaccine is distributed randomly across the country, black Americans are being left behind.
An analysis by Kaiser Health News found that while black Americans are disproportionately affected by COVID-19, in some states their vaccination rates are two to three times lower than their white neighbors.
The gap is in part due to a long history of racial discrimination and abuse by the U.S. health care system, which has contributed to mistrust of vaccines among people of color. In December, 35% of black people said they probably or definitely won’t get the hang of it.
Dr. James EK Hildreth, a black immunologist who sits on the FDA committee that cleared the injections of Pfizer and Moderna for emergency use in the United States, understands why.
“How can we be sure that a vaccine that has been developed so quickly is safe and effective?” he said the people of color asked him, adding that they “don’t want to be the guinea pigs either, they don’t want to be experienced like the men were in the Tuskegee experiment decades ago. ”
He addressed these concerns at Monday’s Choose Healthy Life Black Clergy Conclave, an online meeting of more than 100 black clergy, senior public health officials, and business leaders and scientists who work to stimulate COVID-19 tests and other resources in the black community. .
The doctor said there were three main reasons for the speed of vaccine development, and many more why the coronavirus vaccine “has nothing to do with Tuskegee.”
The vaccine was developed rapidly using technology, parallel processes and existing infrastructure
Earlier vaccines took years to develop. After decades of global research, an HIV vaccine remains elusive.
But the coronavirus vaccines were developed in just 10 months, which “will likely remain one of the greatest scientific achievements of this century,” said Hildreth, who is also the president and CEO of Meharry Medical College.
This was possible because “we have technologies that just a few years ago were not even imaginable,” he said. In addition, vaccines are usually developed iteratively or with one stage completed before the next begins. “In this case … those [processes] worked in parallel, ”Hildreth said.
Finally, the global infrastructure already in place for HIV vaccine development – including scientists and facilities – has pivoted to focus on COVID-19, eliminating the need to develop a new one from within. zero.
Coronavirus vaccine has nothing to do with Tuskegee
During the infamous Tuskegee experiment, American scientists monitored around 400 black men with syphilis but did not treat them for the disease or even tell them they had it. The study ran for about four decades, according to a U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention timeline, ending in 1972.
Hildreth said the horror of Tuskegee caused major changes in human research.
Today, institutional review boards approve research protocols before they can begin, data security oversight boards continuously monitor data from ongoing trials to ensure they are safe , and advisory groups review the data before recommending vaccine approval.
Blacks have been involved in all of this, Hildreth said. “We have been involved in every phase of development, we are seated on all sides of the table, and that alone makes it very different from the Tuskegee experience.”
He added that his university, a historically black institution, is involved in vaccine trials and donates the vaccine to people in his community. “We wouldn’t risk our reputation as an institution if there was any concern that vaccines were unsafe.”
Finally, 10% of vaccine trial participants were black and 30-50% had underlying conditions such as diabetes, asthma, obesity, and high blood pressure that disproportionately affect people of color. . In all of these groups, the vaccines were over 90% effective.
“For all of these reasons, I have no doubts that this is a vaccine that people of color need to take,” said Hildreth, “because otherwise we are putting our lives and our communities at risk.”
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