60 Black Healthcare Providers Are Urging Black Americans to Get Vaccinated
Many black and low-income communities say they are hesitant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as misinformation continues to spread online. Studies show black Americans are far less likely to get their shot than other racial groups. To encourage more African Americans to sign up for their shots, 60 of the country’s most prominent black doctors and healthcare professionals are speaking up.
Spreading the Word
The 60 influential care providers addressed the struggle to get more black Americans vaccinated in a recent op-ed in the
New York Times. Led by Thomas A. LaVeist, a medical sociologist and the dean of the School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine at Tulane University, and Georges C. Benjamin, a physician and the executive director of the American Public Health Association, the group was made up of doctors, nurses, and scientists from around the U.S.
A professor of medical ethics and two researchers argue that vaccines should be mandated for health care workers, students attending in-person classes and others.
With numbers like those, we believe this moment requires leaders to stand up and lead: to help save our people and nation, to protect Black Americans and all Americans, and to break the stranglehold Covid-19 has had on our country.
Vaccines are now available. They were developed over a remarkably short 10-month period because of recent technological advances just waiting for a moment such as this. These vaccines were tested by teams of outstanding scientists in many different countries including Black scientists who worked on vaccine development and served on review panels for the Food and Drug Administration. Numerous Black public health professionals are leading the efforts to ensure that the distribution of the vaccine is fair and equitable. The safety and efficacy profiles of the vaccines are very strong, meaning th