2020 is marked as the year when everything changed from good to bad, and 2021 has the possibility to be marked as the year when the bad turned worse. Emerging from Wuhan City, China, COVID-19 presented itself as a pandemic that started as a minor incident, which developed into a global disaster. Presently, CNN marks that there are over 106 million cases worldwide and approximately 2 million deaths; they may seem like a small number compared to the world population of 7 billion, but as things are now there is a likelihood that those numbers will increase. A vaccine has been created and according to the CDC, there is a supply recommendation as it relates to the necessity of the vaccine and the number available. “CDC recommends that initial supplies of COVID-19 vaccine be allocated to healthcare personnel and long-term care facility residents. This is referred to as Phase 1a. CDC recommends that in Phase 1b and Phase 1c, which may overlap, vaccination should be offered to people in the following groups … Phase 1b: Frontline essential workers as well as people aged 75 years and older. Phase 1c: People aged 65-74 years old, people aged 16-64 years old, and other essential workers.” This is the proposed plan, which seems reasonable enough in itself. But there are some hesitations about taking the vaccine; for example, the African American community. It is no surprise for individuals to be skeptical over a vaccine that is so new, but the reason why African Americans are concerned about getting injected with the vaccine is because, according to Web MD, there is a history of unethical medical explorations with the victims being black (for example, Henrietta Lacks), resulting in mistrust. The CDC vaccine demographics claims that “Among 6,706,697 (51.9%) persons whose race/ethnicity was known, 60.4% were White and 39.6% represented racial and ethnic minorities, including 14.4% categorized as multiple or other race/ethnicity, 11.5% Hispanic/Latino, 6.0% Asian, 5.4% Black, 2.0% AI/AN, and 0.3% NH/PI.” From the statistics displayed alone, there is concrete evidence that there is a discrepancy in the confirmed numbers of how many individuals in each ethnic group are receiving vaccines. It is either due to people seeking to confirm whether or not the vaccines are safe or it may be because there is a lack of access to the vaccines due to low supply.
Citations
“Tracking Coronavirus’ Global Spread.” CNN, edition.cnn.com/interactive/2020/health/coronavirus-maps-and-cases. Accessed 7 Feb. 2021.
“COVID-19 and Your Health.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/recommendations.html. Accessed 6 Feb. 2021.
Young, Saundra. “Black Vaccine Hesitancy Rooted in Mistrust, Doubts.” WebMD, 2 Feb. 2021, www.webmd.com/vaccines/covid-19-vaccine/news/20210202/black-vaccine-hesitancy-rooted-in-mistrust-doubts.
Painter EM, Ussery EN, Patel A, et al. Demographic Characteristics of Persons Vaccinated During the First Month of the COVID-19 Vaccination Program — United States, December 14, 2020–January 14, 2021. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2021;70:174–177. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.mm7005e1external icon.