I am very familiar with and have dedicated a good portion of my career to combating health disparities. The statistics remain appalling and unacceptable. When you also take into consideration atrocities like the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, we have a lot to overcome in convincing many Blacks to trust the government. I understand the feeling.
However, I feel confident in recommending the vaccine specifically to African Americans, for several reasons. The two vaccines currently available had good representation of African Americans in their clinical trials. African Americans, including one of the lead scientists for vaccine development at the National Institutes of Health, were intimately involved in the their development;. And African Americans were included on the FDA panels that recommended their approval for emergency use authorization.