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A Covid-19 Vaccine Could Save Us. But It’s Normal to Have Concerns.
New data on vaccine hesitancy among Black Americans is entirely reasonable
Vaccine hesitancy is unlikely to be the major obstacle for a Covid-19 vaccine. While there’s lots of hand-wringing over surveys finding people are hesitant to get the vaccine, having concerns is normal if not expected — especially right now.
A recent nationwide survey found that 17% of Black American adults say they definitely will get a Covid-19 vaccine if it were determined to be safe by scientists and it was free, and 49% said they would not get it.
Here’s the thing: Surveys about vaccine hesitancy are not necessarily accurate predictors of what people will do when a vaccine actually becomes available. Second, Black Americans’ concerns and skepticism over new vaccines as well as distrust of the U.S. health system as a whole are valid.
There’s a long history of American health care deliberately harming Black people. As scientist Jen Payne wrote for Elemental in August, “African Americans have a unique legacy with the U.S. health care system — which makes [the Covid-19 vaccine] an even more challenging decision.”
Just one of many examples of U.S. health care abuse inflicted on Black people includes the…
