Experts have warned of low confidence among black Americans in mass vaccination against the coronavirus, NBC News reports
Dr Brittany James, who works at a clinic in Chicago’s low-income and predominantly “black” neighborhood, described her concerns about blacks’ attitudes towards the upcoming vaccination procedure.
“Patients are frightened by the coronavirus pandemic. Conflicting statements from the government only add to the panic. Many of the patients fear that the coronavirus vaccine will prove harmful to black Americans. Some are refusing the vaccine altogether, while others intend to wait and see how the first round of mass vaccination goes”, – Dr James reported.
According to NBC News, deaths from COVID-19 continue to rise across the country. By almost any measure, whether it’s exposure to related conditions that put a person at risk of getting sick, the ability to seek skilled medical care, or the economic impact of the pandemic, black Americans are more likely to be affected than other groups. But there is still a high level of distrust of medicine among them.
“The many experiments that have been done on black Americans have left them sceptical of the medical field. This background strongly influences attitudes towards mass vaccination. Only half of black respondents said they were ready to be vaccinated”, – the authors of the article stressed.
As previously reported by News Front, in the United States a new anti-coronavirus record has been broken. In one day, 230,000 people contracted the coronavirus infection.