Hello Black America! Black health care workers across the country and I hear your questions and concerns about the COVID vaccines and we're bringing the information right to you. It's time for us to have a conversation Between Us About Us. Watch and share now! #BetweenUsAboutUs
Today's launch is just the beginning of our commitment to ensure every Black person in the country has the information they need to make the critical choice about receiving the COVID vaccines. Shout out to @wkamaubell who has been working with us to bring these facts to you!
We are also on @YouTube! Click here to watch Black health care workers provide answers to your questions about the COVID vaccines on YouTube! youtube.com/playlist?list=…
I also want to thank our wonderful funders @CHCFNews Sierra Health Foundation and @commonwealthfnd...without your enthusiastic and generous support of this work early on, this would not have been possible.
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The truth is, Black people don't hate vaccines. We hate exploitation, experimentation and neglect. And many of us, need not resurrect the ghosts of Tuskegee to recall moments in which we’ve endured such abuse.
As a result, Black folks are some of the most discerning healthcare consumers in the US. That discernment often manifests in LEGITIMATE questions & concerns. Mislabeling those concerns as "vaccine hesitancy" is dismissive AND tacitly blames Black folks for their undervaccination.
Just read Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine is 66% effective against moderate COVID and 85% effective against severe disease (to compare Moderna is 95% effective against moderate and severe COVID) - my first thought was, who will get the less effective vaccine and how will we decide?
Despite its lower efficacy in clinical trial, the Johnson and Johnson vaccine has the benefit of only requiring ONE dose, which means, theoretically, it could be easier to administer to lots of people (since folks will not require a follow up visit for a 2nd dose).
The Moderna/Pfizer efficacy data place them among the most effective vaccines on the market (!) @NEJM has created a helpful FAQ list which covers this point: nejm.org/covid-vaccine/…
The very first Black doctors, back in the 1800s (!!), argued that racial health disparities were driven by racism (and more precisely racial capitalism).
That I have to argue this same basic fact in 2020, doesn't make me my "ancestors wildest dreams." My ancestors already knew.
And you don't need to be a doctor to know racism harms Black folks' health. Black people who are not doctors, know too!
Here is recent data from the @KFF and @TheUndefeated poll asking Black folks how racism shapes their outcomes. They know.
And yet here we are in healthcare, year after year, CENTURY AFTER CENTURY, asking the same essential question when the answer HAS BEEN clear.
RACISM MAKES PEOPLE SICK.
RACISM KILLS PEOPLE.
This is true despite one's income or education status.
I'm going to say something that might be hard to hear, but I'm going to say it anyway.
To those who continue to decry the thin margins in this election, you need to de-center whiteness in your analysis.
Brief thread.
These takes, that lament "how close this presidential race is" as some referendum on the nation and it's progress effectively ignore the populations for whom this election was not close at all.
1. In a departure from takes that decry the lack of leadership in the current administration, we call attention to the dangers of white supremacy, authoritarianism, and nationalism-lethal threats to our democracy, our lives and the viability of the planet. nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…
2. We focus on the adverse impact this administration has had on our nation’s health and well-being - an impact illustrated by, and extending far beyond, the deadly toll of the current pandemic.
Did everyone see this paper by @ProfDesmondAng called The Effects of Police Violence on Inner-City Students??
It documents how living in proximity to policing killings increases student absenteeism, decreases their GPA and their likelihood to graduate! Thread (with pdf link)
I want to list some of the findings because they are significant and alarming.
The study looks at 700,000 high school students in Los Angeles from 2002-2016 and their proximity to a local police killing (based on their home address).
It finds that in the days following a police killing absenteeism spikes among nearby students (defined as those who live within a 0.5mi radius of the killing).
Nearby students also experience a decrease in their GPA (up to 0.08 standard deviations) for at least FOUR semesters.