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Opinion: How we can show hesitant Black D.C. residents that
coronavirus vaccines are safe and effective
Dora Taylor-Lowe, communications director for D.C.’s
Department of Human Services, receives the covid-19 vaccine from Juliet
Dankwah, a DHS nurse, at an outdoor tented clinic in D.C. in February.
(Salwan Georges/The Washington Post)
Opinion by Lisa K. Fitzpatrick and Michelle
McMurry-Heath
March 26, 2021 at 9:00 a.m. EDT
Lisa K. Fitzpatrick
is founder and chief executive of Grapevine Health and a health innovator
fellow at the Aspen Institute. Michelle McMurry-Heath is president and chief
executive of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization.
Black Americans are
dying at nearly twice the rate of White Americans from the
coronavirus. In the nation’s capital, about 75 percent of coronavirus deaths are among Black
Americans — despite making up less than half of the population. So, it’s
particularly troubling that 44 percent of Black D.C. residents say they won’t
get vaccinated.
As Black doctors
and voices within the health-care community, we have a responsibility to
address these views about vaccines.
Among Black people who are unsure, the most common
two reasons given are worries about side effects and a desire to see how
other people respond to the vaccine. These are perfectly reasonable concerns;
no one wants to be a guinea pig.
The reality is that
the vaccines have been thoroughly tested, shown to be safe and are virtually
100 percent effective at preventing deaths and hospitalizations.
We desperately need
a nationwide educational outreach effort to convey that message — not just
from doctors like us but also from traditional Black community pillars such
as pastors and even barbers.
First, our outreach
must make clear that millions of Americans have already been vaccinated with
positive results. More than 110,000 Americans participated in clinical trials
for the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines — the three
vaccines authorized for use in the United States.
More than 400
million doses have been administered to patients around the world in recent
weeks, including more than 120 million in the United States.
To put it bluntly,
anyone receiving the shot today has a great deal of information to turn to
regarding safety and efficacy.
Second, our
advocacy must do a better job explaining how safety is a priority throughout
every stage of the vaccine development process, from research and testing to
regulatory approvals. Even after a vaccine is widely available, scientists
continuously monitor for any potential side effects.
The clinical trial
process includes several independent checks and balances well before a
vaccine reaches patients. For example, data safety monitoring boards —
composed of biologists, immunologists, statisticians and other health
professionals — analyze clinical trial data and offer unbiased advice about
how a trial should move forward, if at all.
Meanwhile, the Food
and Drug Administration won’t approve a vaccine — including granting
emergency use authorization — unless independent experts deem it safe and
effective following extensive trials and data analysis.
In these
conversations, we can also point toward unbiased data. Evidence-based
websites, such as that of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CovidVaccineFacts.org,
which the Biotechnology Innovation Organization recently launched, allow
people to find answers to their vaccine-related questions from trusted
experts. Individuals can then draw their own informed conclusions about the
vaccines.
Third, we must do a
better job showcasing the diverse participation in the development process.
When it comes to
testing, consider that minority communities — Asian, Latino and Black — made
up more than 35 percent of U.S. clinical trial participants for
the Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. It’s also worth
noting that several members of the FDA committee that reviewed vaccine data
in the approval process were Black.
Fortunately, vaccine hesitancy in the Black community has steadily
declined over the past few months. In Maryland’s majority-Black Prince George’s County, for instance, residents
want to get vaccinated, but they lack access to the technology they need to
sign up.
But this decrease
in hesitancy isn’t an excuse for complacency. We must continue investing in
widespread education, so every person has the information he or she needs to
understand the vaccines. The reality is that the Black community is being hit
harder by the disease, so our uptake needs to be higher.
We cannot afford to
continue letting D.C.’s predominantly Black neighborhoods lag behind. Up to this point, just 5.4 percent and 3.9 percent of residents in Wards 7 and
8, respectively, have been fully
vaccinated — compared with 11 percent of residents in Ward 3.
Achieving equity
in coronavirus outcomes requires broad vaccine acceptance
within the Black community. That starts with getting the facts into trusted
hands within Black communities.
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