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A Black scientist who approved the coronavirus vaccine says it is nothing like Tuskegee and people of color will not be guinea pigs
A Black scientist who approved the coronavirus vaccine says it is nothing like Tuskegee and people of color will not be guinea pigs
Anna Medaris MillerJan 20, 2021, 04:22 IST
MARK LENNIHAN/POOL/AFP/Getty
Black Americans are less likely to get the coronavirus
vaccine than white people, but are more likely to get sick and die from COVID-19.
Some are concerned about the speed of vaccine development. Dr. James E. K. Hildreth, a Black immunologist, explained how the process was safely expedited.
It s particularly important that people who are most vulnerable, including Black Americans, get the
vaccine. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Black Americans are dying at nearly three times the rate of white, non-Hispanic people and being hospitalized at nearly four times the rate.
Working to overcome a history of racial discrimination and mistreatment
But getting the vaccine first requires the Black community to trust that it s safe and effective, Fauci and other speakers said.
Black adults have shown more hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines than white or Hispanic people. Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation in early December found that about 35% of Black people said they probably or definitely wouldn t get a COVID-19 shot, compared with about a quarter of people who identified as Hispanic or as white.
Alyssa Pointer/Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP, Pool
Dr. Anthony Fauci predicted Monday that church services by mid-fall should resemble pre-coronavirus worship.
That projection depends on at least 70% to 85% of the population getting vaccinated.
Churches have been the sites of super-spreader events, since the virus spreads easily indoors when people are speaking loudly or singing in close quarters.
Dr. Anthony Fauci predicts church services with hugging, praising, and music-making will be able to resume safely in mid-fall if the US vaccinates people appropriately, effectively, and efficiently.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made the projection Monday during the Choose Healthy Life Black Clergy Conclave, an online convening of more than 100 Black clergy, leading public-health officials, and corporate and scientific leaders who are working to boost COVID-19 testing and other resources in th
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NEW YORK, Jan. 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, one year after the last MLK Day saw the first confirmed case of COVID-19 in the United States, Choose Healthy Life, led by Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Calvin O. Butts, III, will host the Choose Healthy Life Black Clergy Conclave, a convening of 100+ Black clergy, America s leading public health officials, corporate and scientific leaders to step into the breach and address COVID-19 in the Black community as part of a national mobilization effort to boost testing and additional health resources. Tragically, too many African Americans get their first test for COVID-19 when they re getting admitted to the hospital, having missed the critical early window when some of the best treatments are most effective. We must elevate the importance of both testing and getting the word out about vaccination,