Black Vaccine Hesitancy Rooted in Mistrust, Doubts

Marcella Nunez-Smith, MD, associate professor of internal medicine, public health and management, Yale University; co-chair, President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 advisory board; chair, Biden-Harris COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force.

Leon McDougle, MD, president, National Medical Association; professor, family medicine, Ohio State University College of Medicine.

James Hildreth, MD, PhD, president and CEO, Meharry Medical College; FDA temporary voting member, Vaccines & Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

Dorothy Roberts, JD, George A. Weiss University professor of law and sociology, University of Pennsylvania; founding director, Penn Program on Race, Science & Society

Wynne Stovall-Johnson, Elkins Park, PA.

Anthony Hardy Sr., Glen Burnie, MD.

News release, National Medical Association.

CDC: “COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity,” “Demographic Characteristics of Persons Vaccinated During the First Month of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program — United States, December 14, 2020-January 14, 2021.”

Kaiser Family Foundation: “Kaiser Family Foundation COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor.”

Choose Healthy Life.

NAACP: “Coronavirus Equity Considerations: The Imperative for Civil Rights Advocacy, Monitoring, and Enforcement,” “Coronavirus Policy Briefs, Statements, and Letters.”

Kaiser Health News: “Black Americans are getting vaccinated at lower rates than white Americans.”

News release, Yale University.

Business Insider: “A Black scientist who approved the coronavirus vaccine says it is ‘nothing

like Tuskegee’ and people of color will not be ‘guinea pigs.’”

Journal of General Internal Medicine: “Understanding African Americans’ Views of the Trustworthiness of Physicians.”

Mayo Clinic: “COVID-19 vaccine myths debunked.”

Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center: “COVID-19 vaccine side effects: Should we be concerned? How does mRNA work?