The dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine took her first vaccine against Covid-19 on Friday morning on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. They will take the second shot in about three weeks.
Montgomery said he would not recommend something he did not trust, and while he understands the concern of some Americans about the nation’s history of racism in medical research, he wants to assure people that the reality is different now.
“There are black scientists in the room where decisions are made. There are black scientists who are developing the vaccine,” Montgomery told Gupta.
There are also black scientists who are part of the FDA advisory panel and the CDC advisory board. And she added that there are people like her who look at the data.
The Morehouse School of Medicine also works to distribute vaccine information in flyers, webinars, panels, hotlines, and urges blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans to participate in vaccine trials. People of color have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19 this year.
Morehouse is historically located among black colleges and universities, black brotherhoods and fraternities, and prominent black pastors who lead national efforts to remove the stigma surrounding the Covid-19 vaccine, as a large number of black Americans they are still hesitant to get the shot.
“We want to be that source of information that people can trust and know that we will do everything we can to get us all out of this pandemic,” Immergluck said.
Earlier this week, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams told CNN’s Jake Tapper that he was meeting with the presidents of the Divine Nine (a group of nine black brotherhoods and fraternities) to discuss efforts to create confidence in the vaccine in the black community.
“We represent all black cultures in the United States,” Peters said. “We have a legacy of being trusted individuals in the community who selflessly come out to serve humanity.”
Peters said the task force focuses on reviewing data from all vaccines before bringing the information to the community. Peters said he wants to make sure the fraternity promotes a safe, highly effective, and highly effective vaccine for pregnant women and people with pre-existing conditions.
Once the working group feels secure about the data, it will begin partnering with churches, local brotherhood chapters, barbershops and using social media to encourage people to get the vaccine, Peters said.
“We want the vaccine with the strongest effectiveness,” Peters said.
“I trust that my profession is deeply rooted in science,” the nurse says
According to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation, 35% of black Americans say they would probably or definitely not get the vaccine if scientists determined they were safe and available for free.
The study found that blacks who do not trust the vaccine are largely concerned about possible side effects (which doctors say are mild) and believe they could get Covid-19 to take the vaccine.
The Tuskegee experiments from 1932 to 1972 recruited 600 black men (399 who had syphilis and 201 who did not) and tracked the progression of the disease by not treating men while they were dying or suffering from serious health problems.
While Pfizer launched the first shipments of its vaccine this week, some black nurses and doctors took the live video vaccine this week to combat fears in the black community.
Among them was Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island’s Jewish Medical Centers, who was fired Monday by Dr. Michelle Chester, the corporate director of Northwell Health’s employee health services, who also it is black.
“I’m not afraid. I trust that my profession is deeply rooted in science …,” Lindsay told CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “What I don’t trust is getting Covid-19 because I don’t know how it will affect me and the people around me to whom I could transfer the virus.”
On Wednesday, some fifty black pastors from the Black Clergy Healthy Living Action Plan held a Zoom Summit with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dr. Nancy Messonnier and Dr. Tom Frieden to discuss health disparities in the black community, fighting against Covid-19. and the deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Choose Healthy Life is an association of black churches across the country that aims to combat the impact of the pandemic on the black community. The group has pivoted from providing free trials of Covid-19 earlier this year to launching a national educational campaign to promote vaccine awareness.
Summit discussions highlighted the importance of black clergy and the nation’s best doctors working together to ensure a successful deployment of the vaccine, according to Choose Healthy Life.
“As religious leaders, it is our duty to defend the health and survival of our community, provide our congregations with accurate information, and guide society at large toward a place of moral well-being,” the Rev. Al Sharpton, co-chair. of the Action Plan Choose healthy living with the black clergy. “As Martin Luther King Jr. once said, religious leaders should serve as a thermostat that transforms society, not as a thermometer that picks up temperature and allows social pressure to influence it.”
“Skepticism is real,” but groups dispel misinformation
Barber shops and hairdressing salons have also become a central element of the conversation about vaccines because they are fundamental pillars of the black community.
Stephen Thomas, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland in College Park, hosts Zoom town halls, where doctors and scientists teach about the vaccine to barbers, stylists and their clients in Maryland.
The effort is part of the Thomas Health Advocates In-Reach and Research initiative, or HAIR, which offers cancer testing at barbershops and hair salons.
Thomas said councils are helping to dispel misinformation around the vaccine.
“Barbers and stylists have confidence,” Thomas said. “It’s a big problem, it’s a family affair. It’s a place where blacks meet in all their socioeconomic divisions.”
Elsewhere, civil rights leaders, including Sharpton, New York activists and doctors, formed a working group to address the black community’s concerns about the vaccine and create equitable access. Leaders say they hope the task force can become a national model for black communities.
The working group plans to launch an aggressive campaign that it says will disseminate accurate information about the vaccine.
Jennifer Jones Austin, a member of the working group and executive director of the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, said many black and brown people have been marked by health disparities for decades and will not get the vaccine without the vaccines. your questions are answered by trusted leaders.
“The skepticism is real,” Austin said. “We have to do the work of helping people understand why this vaccine can be useful and a great resource for fighting the disease.”