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TUSKEGEE, Ala. (AP) – Lucenia Dunn spent the early days of the coronavirus pandemic encouraging people to wear masks and keep their distance from each other in Tuskegee, a predominantly black town where the government once used Afro-men unsuspecting Americans as guinea pigs in a study of a sexually transmitted disease.
Today, the city’s former mayor has been immortalized as the site of the infamous “Tuskegee Syphilis Study” is wary of getting vaccinated against COVID-19. Among other things, she is wary of the government promoting a vaccine that was developed in record time when it does not appear to be able to perform adequate virus testing or consistently provide quality rural health care. .
“I am not doing this vaccine at the moment. That doesn’t mean I never will. But I know enough not to get it until we see everything that’s involved, ”said Dunn, who is Black.
The coronavirus vaccination campaign has got off to a good start in Tuskegee and other parts of Macon County. Leaders in the region are reporting resistance among residents, driven by distrust of government promises and decades of failed health programs. Many people in this city of 8,500 people have relatives who were subjected to unethical government experiments during the syphilis study.
“It has an impact on decisions. Being in this community, growing up in this community, I would be very lying if I didn’t say that, ”said Frank Lee, director of emergency management in Macon County. Lee is black.
Health experts have emphasized both the safety and efficacy of vaccines. They noted that while vaccines were being developed at record speed, they were based on decades of previous research. The vaccines used in the United States have shown no signs of serious side effects in studies involving tens of thousands of people. And with more than 26 million vaccines administered in the United States to date, no red flags have been reported.
Tuskegee is not a complete outlier. A recent study conducted by communications company Edelman found that in November, only 59% of people in the United States were willing to get the vaccine within a year and only 33% were happy to do so as soon as possible.
But the skepticism seems to run deeper here.
When Alabama and the rest of the South were still separated by race, government medical workers starting in 1932 suspended treatment of unsuspecting men infected with syphilis in Tuskegee and surrounding Macon County so that doctors could follow the disease. The study, which involved around 600 men, ended in 1972 only after it was revealed by The Associated Press.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of the men by Black Tuskegee’s attorney, Fred Gray, resulted in a $ 9 million settlement, and then-President Bill Clinton formally apologized on behalf of the US government in 1997 But the damage has left a legacy of mistrust that goes far beyond Tuskegee: A December survey showed 40% of black people in the country said they would not get the coronavirus vaccine. Such hesitation is more entrenched than among whites, even though black Americans have been disproportionately affected by the virus.
Chicago-based black nationalist group Nation of Islam is warning members across the country with an online presentation titled “Beyond Tuskegee: Why Blacks Should Not Take the Experimental COVID-19 Vaccine.”
Gray, now 90 and still practicing law in Tuskegee, rejects such comparisons. Syphilis study and COVID-19 vaccine are completely different, he said. He thinks it is enough that he himself has received the vaccine and publicly encourages others to do the same.
Georgette Moon is on a similar mission. Hoping to both protect herself and cheer on nervous friends, the former city council member recently unveiled an arm and let a public health nurse vaccinate her. Now, Moon said, if only more black compatriots could overcome their lingering fears and get vaccinated.
“The study is a huge factor,” Moon said. “Very qualified and well educated people told me they weren’t going to do it right now.”
The Macon County Health Department, which administers the two-stage Moderna vaccines at its modern building near the city center, could perform up to 160 vaccines per day, officials said. But a maximum of 140 people received the vaccine on a single date during the first six days of the appointment, with a total of 527 people vaccinated during the period. Health care workers, emergency responders, and long-term care residents are currently eligible for vaccines in Alabama, as well as people 75 years of age and older.
There are signs of hope. State statistics show a slow increase in the number of people coming for the vaccination, and word seems to filter through the community that it is okay to be vaccinated.
Down the street from the County Clinic, the Tuskegee Veterans Hospital has veterans 65 and over vaccinated. While only 40% of VA workers in the region have been vaccinated, officials said, more people agree to the vaccines than in the initial wave.
“They know people who have had the vaccine, they hear more about it, they feel more comfortable with the vaccine,” said Dr. April Truett, infectious disease specialist at the hospital.
Reverend John Curry Jr. said he and his wife took the photos after the health department said they could get appointments without a long wait. The pastor of the city’s oldest black church, Curry said he encouraged worshipers to get vaccinated.
Yet he said he also understands the power of lingering distrust in a city that will forever be linked to the Syphilis Study, one of the most vilified episodes in the history of public health in the States. -United.
“It’s a stain on Tuskegee,” he said. “It stays on people’s minds.”
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