As of January 6, the COVID-19 vaccination work in the United States has been underway for three weeks. Although relevant departments have repeatedly stated that the vaccine is safe and effective, Americans' overall willingness to be vaccinated is not high. A survey recently released by the Pew Research Center showed that only 42% of African Americans in the United States expressed their willingness or possibility of getting the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 61% of the white population's willingness to get the vaccination.
African Americans’ resistance to vaccines is not only due to considerations about vaccine safety, but also related to cases of racial discrimination in the history of American medical and health care. To this day, many African Americans are still hurting the racial discrimination problem within the US health system, and the path to equal rights can be described as "more difficult" during the epidemic.
△ Pew Research Center data shows that less than half of African Americans are willing to get vaccinated
"Dark History" makes it difficult for African Americans to trust the health system
1932 to 1972, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services conducted an experiment in Tuskegee, Alabama to "better understand the natural processes of disease ( syphilis ). The experiment followed 600 low-income African-Americans in Tuskegee, 399 of whom had syphilis.
However, during the experiment, the researchers concealed the purpose of the experiment from the recruited African subjects, in order to trick them into cooperating with the experiment for a long time. The researchers made these Africans think that the hospital was giving them free treatment, but in fact, they did not provide any treatment methods to the participants, but were observing the consequences of the natural development of syphilis. Not only that, the researchers also concealed the truth from the subjects, saying that they were not suffering from syphilis, but "scurvy."
△《New York Times 》 reported that the prejudice of racial discrimination in the United States has affected all aspects of health care
Therefore, many Africans have transmitted syphilis to their families without knowing it, which eventually led to the death of many innocent lives. This "crime study" was not finally stopped until it was exposed by the media in 1972.
Alan Porant, professor of medical history and science at Harvard University, said: "This experiment reveals not only the pathological problems of syphilis, but more of the social problems of racial discrimination in the United States." The New York Times commented that after the experiment, African American trust in the US medical and health system gradually collapsed, and other medical and health efforts were vain.
According to research by American economists Marseille Arsan and Marian Wanamaker, African Americans are generally less likely to seek help from the U.S. health system than whites, and are more likely to die at a young age due to lack of treatment. In addition, analysis shows that one-third of the life expectancy gap between black and white Americans can be attributed to the breach of trust caused by the Tuskegee experiment.
African Americans are generally resistant to the new crown vaccine
Remove the painful memories brought by "dark history". The reason why African Americans are resistant to vaccines is also due to their suspicion of the safety of vaccines. The New York Times interviewed Dennis Rankin, 55, an African-American, who admitted she was full of doubts about the safety of the vaccine because she saw people on social media having facial nerve paralysis after getting the vaccine, which made her particularly worried about the potential side effects of the vaccine.
△The U.S. magazine Time said that due to the injustice he had suffered injustice in history, African Americans have distrustful attitudes towards the new crown vaccine
In addition, according to a survey jointly initiated by the Caesar Family Foundation and The Undefeated Network, 70% of African Americans believe that when they seek help from medical and health institutions during the epidemic, they will be "unfairly treated" because of their race, which has caused serious physical and mental blows and aggravated their resistance to the medical and health system. The survey pointed out that African Americans are the most hesitant group when getting the COVID-19 vaccine, and their concerns about the safety of the vaccine are increasing.
is the above reasons that make it difficult for African Americans to accept the new crown vaccine. Data shows that only 10% of the 350,000 Americans registered to participate in vaccine clinical trials are African or Latino.The total population of these two groups accounts for 31.9% of the total population of the United States, but more than half of the confirmed patients of COVID-19 in the United States come from these two groups. Even with such a high infection rate, a survey by Time magazine in the United States showed that only 35% of African Americans expressed certainty or possibility of getting vaccinated.
Racial discrimination is hidden deep in the medical system
In fact, the quality of medical resources obtained by African Americans is still far lower than that of whites. In terms of cancer and AIDS treatment, as well as antenatal health care and disease prevention, they can only silently accept discriminatory differential treatment from the US health system. In addition, Africans are more difficult to obtain treatment for cardiovascular disease than whites, and they are more likely to receive unnecessary body amputations.
△The New York Times said that many African Americans are resistant to the new crown vaccine
Not only that, African Americans are also the main group affected by sickle cell disease, but the attention received by the disease in the medical community is much lower than that of other diseases, which has also triggered scholars from all walks of life to think deeply about medical research on the issue of racial equality. Evelyn Hammonds, an expert in science history at Harvard University, said: "In American history, black people's health level has never been the same as white people - discrimination and differences are hidden in the medical system."
The "historic" racial discrimination in the American medical system still threatens the lives and health of minority groups. The difficulty of seeking medical treatment and treatment in the African group during the epidemic has further aggravated the "sense of tearing" and differentiation in American society. In the soil of discrimination, the United States' road to fighting the epidemic is becoming increasingly difficult.
(Editor Yang Boren)
