As COVID-19 Vaccine Nears, Many In The Black Community Are Wary

Monday, November 23, 2020

Credit: Johnson & Johnson

Above: In this undated photo provided by Johnson & Johnson in September 2020, a woman receives an injection during phase 3 testing for the Janssen Pharmaceutical-Johnson & Johnson vaccine in the United States.

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New reporting by The San Diego Union-Tribune looks at how unethical and cruel medical research like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and present day inequities in medical treatment for communities of color are why mistrust of the institution of medicine and government is ingrained for so many.

Aired: November 23, 2020 | Transcript

Along with the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in San Diego comes the good news that a third vaccine is reporting promising results. A vaccine developed by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford is reporting 90% effectiveness in stage-three trials.

But not everyone is eager to get the vaccine. In a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California 68% of Californians surveyed said they were concerned about the vaccine approval moving too quickly and 40% said they either probably or definitely would not get the vaccine. The number who said they probably or definitely won't get the vaccine was even higher among Latino respondents at 43% and the highest among Black respondents at 69%.

New reporting by The San Diego Union-Tribune’s biotech reporter Jonathan Wosen and neighborhoods reporter Andrea Lopez-Villafaña looks at how unethical and cruel medical research like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and present-day inequities in medical treatment for communities of color have led to mistrust of the institution of medicine and government for many people in the Black community.

Wosen joined Midday Edition on Monday to discuss his reporting.