COVID-19 Vaccine: Doubt In The Black Community
Over the last 12 months, we have experienced unprecedented grief, economic uncertainty, and mental health strain with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
As of this writing, two vaccines are approved for use. The unrelenting work of brilliant doctors and scientist have paid off; a vaccine was developed at record speed.
However, there is concern about how quickly the vaccine was made, the vaccine’s safety profile, and the lack of trust in government agencies.
These concerns have many people reasonably suspicious of taking the vaccine.
The Elephant in the Room: Vaccine Speed
The talent and technological advances of the present day is grossly underrecognized.
Katalin Karikó, a Hungarian-born female scientist, is behind the key mRNA discovery. In 1990, she discovered that mRNA technology could be used to fight disease.
Her research was so far-fetched that she was rejected time and time again, and she could not sustain funding for her research.
With that being said, mRNA vaccine development is not a new concept. It was already being used to make other vaccines, including Influenza A (Jackson et al., 2020).
Scientists had a head start making the vaccine because of prior Coronaviruses like the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) outbreak of 2012 that affected the United States in 2014 (CDC, 2019).
For additional answers to common questions such as how the vaccine was made, read The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Here! Should You Take It?.
The Vaccine Safety Profile
As of November 2020, the vaccine has been given to over 30,000 participants. The participant profiles have been diverse and reflective of the population.
Pfizer has reported injection site pain, fatigue, fever, and chills.
Moderna has reported side effects to include injection site pain, muscle aches, and headaches.
Side effects were more common after the second vaccine dose and higher vaccine dosage (Jackson et al., 2020).
People will have and should prepare for the vaccine’s side effects; your body will react to a foreign invader. That is the point.
However, each person will react differently, and the side effects will range from mild to severe.
The worse that has happened so far, two nurses in the U.S (out of thousands) had anaphylaxis (difficulty breathing) after taking the vaccine.
The treatment for anaphylaxis is epinephrine injection, a cure that has been around for over 100 years.
If you react to the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, report it.
Lack of Trust in Government Agencies
The rant that I have in mind about this topic would make for an entire blog article itself.
In short, many, including myself (a frontline provider), have lost faith in the CDC. I take the CDC recommendations as such, and I supplement them with my own research.
The Tuskegee Study. A human experiment by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) was conducted on black men to observe the natural progression of syphilis.
Moreover, the authors of 40 Years of Human Experimentation in America: The Tuskegee Study discussed that 600 men were enlisted for the study. Unfortunately, they were lied to about the purpose of the study, and many received no treatment.
This unethical experiment is among other medical mistrust incidences that have sown deep-rooted mistrust between African Americans and government agencies.
Lastly, some have also mentioned frustration about the inability to develop a cure for HIV after all these years despite how it has ravished the black community. Yet, the vaccine for the COVID-19 virus was made quickly.
The Reality
Today Friday, December 18th, 2020, Los Angeles has no ICU beds; this rings across the country.
17 million people have been infected, and over 310,000 people have died and counting.
Without ICU beds, you can almost expect to die from COVID-19 at minimum, but no ICU beds also mean you cannot afford to have a heart attack, be hit by a car, or sustain a severe fall.
The fact is you have to decide on taking the vaccine or not by using a risk/benefit analysis. Consider the following two questions:
- If you were to catch the virus today, what is your chance of dying?
- Consider your age – older people are at greater risk.
- Consider your ethnicity – Black and Latinx individuals are at higher risk.
- Consider your co-morbidities – ex. Asthma, diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension, and obesity increases your risk.
- Having 2+ of these risk factors almost guarantees a hospital trip and possibly death.
- What are the risks of taking the vaccine?
- Muscle aches, pains, fever, and feeling run down for a couple of days.
- Allergic reaction – most (if not all) places monitor individuals for at least 15 min after receiving the vaccine.
- A sore arm.
Everyone Will Not Be Convinced
As a healthcare provider, the vaccine conversation is frustrating. As I sit here, I wonder how to assure people on the fence and convert others who have outright said no.
I have answered many common questions in The COVID-19 Vaccine Is Here! Should You Take It? about the vaccine.
Most laypeople were appreciative of the insights, but in nursing forums, the COVID-19 vaccine topic was met with great resistance among some nurses.
I try to educate people, arm them with the facts, but I realize there will be nay-sayers, and you can’t worry about things that you can’t control.
You can only manage your actions and lead by example for your family.
Some people will not be convinced, “Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair” – Anonymous.
The deep-rooted medical mistrust will have many refusing to take the vaccine but focus on protecting yourself and your family.
Those who do not plan on getting the vaccine, do your part to prevent the spread; plan on avoiding contact with people, avoiding indoor gathering and dining, or traveling (personal or otherwise).
Getting the vaccine is not a magic bullet; you still have to do your part. Remember that the vaccine is 95% effective, not 100%. Therefore, some people will still get COVID-19 after receiving the vaccine.
More importantly, your chances of needing a ventilator or dying are reduced significantly with receiving the vaccine.
Additional Resources
For more detailed information on the FDA emergency use authorization of Pfizer/BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, check out their Fact Sheet.
Schedule your vaccine or COVID testing with your local pharmacy or with your primary care provider via telemedicine if available.
