#Roommates if the COVID-19 vaccine made rounds on your block, would you get it? More than 30 million Americans have been vaccinated so far, but early data suggests that Black Americans are saying “aht aht” to the COVID-19 prevention. Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith is Head of the Health Equity Task Force at the White House, and she stepped into The Shade Room to discuss why our community is 4x less likely than white people to get the vaccine, despite us needing it the most.
“I’m saddened by how many people are trying to take advantage of this moment and say things about infertility and other things about the vaccine that there isn’t any evidence for, ” Dr. Nunez-Smith said. While there’s no evidence that the vaccine causes infertility or other issues, studies do show that the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are 95% effective in preventing COVID illness.
She said “we’re right to be skeptical” about the government handing out vaccines, considering the Tuskegee experiment played black people for 40 years- but, she clarified all the ways this process is different from Tuskegee.
“There was great representation with the scientists who worked on the vaccine,” Dr. Nunez-Smith said. She shared that black people and other people of color were also on the board creating policies for the vaccine.
At the moment, frontline workers and people in healthcare are some of the prioritized groups to get vaccinated early, but Dr. Nunez-Smith says 1.5 million people are being vaccinated daily and batches will be available to the general public by April. As for when we can get back to the streets, she says “don’t give up hope” for summer, but the holiday season is more probable.
Roommates, let us know if you have been or plan to get vaccinated.
