12/18/2020
***This is not my post. I copied it because it touched on systemic and generational and cultural dynamics.***
I saw some polls that indicated that African Americans and Mexican Americans are among the most unlikely to get the COVID vaccination. From the perspective of an African American: When someone from our community says they won’t be getting the vaccination ....Please don’t just dismiss them as uneducated or talk down to them.... or try to bully them into getting the vaccine. Try to be encouraging in anyway you can to help them make the best informed decision they can (Whatever decision that may be). Be sensitive to the cultural history of our people as it relates to healthcare. The issue is MISTRUST that has cultivated for as long as this country has been in existence. As it relates to our people, there is a deep seeded history of abuse, unethical behavior and injustice in medicine. We all know about the Tuskegee Experiments... BUT THERE IS SO MUCH MORE injustice that is often not talked about or never heard of. Henrietta Lacks, whose DNA was stolen with out her consent ... Her cells went on to create break throughs in modern medicine. Yet, she died penniless. “The father of Gynecology “ James Marion Sims, performed extremely evasive and shocking medical surgical experiments on slaves with out anesthesia or any kind of pain reliever to help advance reproductive health .... and there’s so much more. There’s so much more. I myself, work in healthcare and I’m trying my best to work up the courage to get the vaccination... But honestly if you ask me today am I getting it ...My answer is No. My husband, (also African American) is getting the vaccination. I’m not there yet ..... Many of us are trying to work through our fear.
