Distrust in the coronavirus vaccine, and lack of supply in rural and black communities, have been barriers in vaccinating African Americans in Mississippi, according to health officials.
During the virtual town hall, doctors addressed the myth that the vaccine was produced too quickly to have adequate research. Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association, says while the vaccines were produced quickly, no steps in the research process were skipped. He says a new type of vaccine has been under research for years to address coronavirus diseases, such as the common cold. Dr. Benjamin says this new technology allowed researchers to take that framework, modify it slightly, and move the vaccine to clinical trials quickly.
“And they worked very hard to make sure that the people in the study were representative of communities of color,” says Dr. Benjamin. “And in fact, one of the lead researches on the Moderna product is actually an African American woman.”
The state is also working with religious leaders to raise awareness of the vaccine. Reverend Isaac Jackson is President of the General Missionary Baptist State Convention of Mississippi. He says he got the vaccine in early January and is encouraging others to do the same.
Jackson says “The first shot, I put on the church Facebook, showed them I was taking the first shot. Would you believe it, people started calling, seeing how I was feeling, wanting to get it. And I began to get probably 80% of my senior citizens in our congregations to have the shot.”
For some Black residents wanting to be vaccinated, scheduling an appointment or finding transportation may be difficult. State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs says the state needs to remove roadblocks that prevent African Americans from getting the shot.
“We’ve had a great partnership working with different churches, and some of the Baptist churches on the coast have done a phenomenal thing,” says Dr. Dobbs. “They’ve set up a team to help people who don’t have internet access, and they’re sitting there ready to put them in [the online scheduler]. Having these sort of innovative approaches have been fantastic, but that’s not gonna be enough. We’ve got to find other ways.”
Dr. Dobbs says the Department of Health has a dedicated team pursuing more ways to get more vaccines into rural and Black communities.
